Liverpool businessman fined £ 112k after accident at work

A Liverpool businessman has been fined GBP 112,000 after a labourer died in an accident at work when he fell from a roof, just weeks after another employee was seriously injured at the same site.

John McCleary fell 15 feet while fitting roof panels at a construction site in Toxteth being managed by Taj ul Malook Mann.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that he lost his balance while on a narrow beam he was using, as no scaffolding had been erected.

The 51-year-old was paralysed from the waist down after the accident at work and died of pneumonia just over seven months later as a result of his injuries.

Liverpool Crown Court heard Mr Mann had hired Mr McCleary to fit roof panels on an industrial unit, but no scaffolding was supplied and he had to carry out the job while standing on four-inch wide steel beams, leading to him losing his balance and falling.

During the HSE investigation, video was discovered which had been filmed by Mr McCleary on his mobile phone in the weeks before his fall, showing labourers carrying out work standing on narrow beams.

Mr Mann admitted four breaches of health and safety regulations after failing to take steps to prevent a fall which could have resulted in injury, and failing to ensure that work on his site was being carried out safely. He also did not fulfil his legal duty to report the incident to the HSE.

HSE investigator Kevin Jones said after the hearing: "Property developers must understand that health and safety rules need to be adhered to at all times, regardless of how small a project may be."

In 2011, 38 workers were killed in Great Britain as a result of a fall from height and more than 4,000 suffered major injuries.

Posted by Verity Taylor

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