Firm hit by £10,000 bill after worker seriously hurt
A lift manufacturing and maintenance company from Blisworth must pay £10,000 for breaking health and safety rules after an employee was seriously injured.
The UK Lift Company was fined 2,000 and ordered to pay 8,000 costs for failing to ensure the safety of its employees while working at height.
At Lincoln Magistrates' Court yesterday, representatives of the company pleaded guilty to breaking two sections of the Work At Height Regulations 2005 in that they failed to carry out the repair of a school lift safely.
It follows an accident in Lincolnshire where an employee fell more than six metres down a lift shaft, resulting in serious injuries.
The prosecution arose from an incident at North Kesteven School in Lincolnshire last February when the company's assistant site manager, Michael Richards fell six metres, from the second floor, down the school's lift shaft while helping a lift engineer. He suffered a broken pelvis, other broken bones, fractures and ligament damage.
Inspector Judith McNulty-Green, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, said: "The injuries Mr Richards suffered were very serious and this could have easily been avoided.
"Working at a lift landing with the landing door open is clearly unsafe, generating a foreseeable risk of a fall.
"This is made worse by the presence of other people, either assisting or unexpectedly entering the danger zone, particularly in a school where there are pupils in the vicinity.
"Risks of this nature must be managed by carrying out a suitable risk assessment and implementing and enforcing the necessary control measures."
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