- Enter the IMCA Awards 2024: We\'re looking for outstanding Safety, Sustainability, and GHG projects.
- IP Code: Mandatory Code enters into force on 1 July. Make sure your company is up to speed with the changes.
- Early Bird tickets available for the IMCA Global Summit 2024. 3-4 December, Utrecht, Netherlands. Members can save £400.
- Discover how we are helping Members reduce emissions: Explore the ProjectGHG hub now.
- Now booking. Join the Lifting and Rigging community at our Technical Seminar in Amsterdam. Thursday 12 September 2024
- Now booking. Underwater Ship Husbandry Seminar. 10 October 2024, Singapore.
Two falls – one from a telehandler in a shipyard – failure to think through risks
The UK Health and Safety Executive (UK HSE) has published two recent news alerts covering prosecutions of companies responsible for someone falling from height.
Incident 1
Two companies were fined after a worker was killed when he fell from a telehandler in a shipyard. A 50-year-old self-employed contractor working on fabrication and installation of roller shutter doors on an extension to a slipway building in a shipyard. He was working at height with a co-worker on the telehandler when it came into contact with fencing. When the telehandler was released from the obstruction it caused the basket to jerk, throwing both operators from the basket. The contractor was not clipped onto the basket and fell to the ground sustaining fatal injuries.
The investigation found that the risks that could occur with this task had not been properly thought through or assessed by the two companies involved.
Please find the full press release press.hse.gov.uk/2017/firms-fined-after-worker-killed-falling-from-telehandler/?ebul=hsegen&cr=5/2-feb-17.
Incident 2
A company with a brand name known throughout the UK was fined £2million after a worker was hospitalised following a fall. The incident occurred when a worker with six years’ experience at this particular plant was cleaning a mixing machine, a routine job he carried out every few weeks. He lost his footing and fell nearly 2 metres. He was hospitalised with a compression fracture in his spine.
Investigation revealed that the company routinely expected their workers to access the top of the mixing machines to clean them. In doing so, the workers were often unbalanced and would brace themselves to stop from falling. The workers were not adequately supervised and there had been no training on how the mixer needed to be cleaned at height. The company failed to control the risk of falls from height when carrying out this routine cleaning activity.
The HSE noted: “This case highlights how important it is for companies to fully assess the risks from work activities at height and to take appropriate action to prevent injury in the workplace. This should have been prevented, falls from height is one of the biggest killers in the workplace and even falls from fairly low levels can be extremely dangerous.”
Please find the full press release press.hse.gov.uk/2017/warburtons-fined-2million-after-worker-fall/?ebul=hsegen&cr=1/2-feb-17.
Safety Event
Published: 27 February 2017
Download: IMCA SF 04/17
IMCA Safety Flashes
Submit a Report
IMCA Safety Flashes summarise key safety matters and incidents, allowing lessons to be more easily learnt for the benefit of all. The effectiveness of the IMCA Safety Flash system depends on Members sharing information and so avoiding repeat incidents. Please consider adding [email protected] to your internal distribution list for safety alerts or manually submitting information on incidents you consider may be relevant. All information is anonymised or sanitised, as appropriate.
IMCA’s store terms and conditions (https://www.imca-int.com/legal-notices/terms/) apply to all downloads from IMCA’s website, including this document.
IMCA makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data contained in the documents it publishes, but IMCA shall not be liable for any guidance and/or recommendation and/or statement herein contained. The information contained in this document does not fulfil or replace any individual’s or Member's legal, regulatory or other duties or obligations in respect of their operations. Individuals and Members remain solely responsible for the safe, lawful and proper conduct of their operations.