Two brothers have been fined for allowing employees at their firm to work unsafely at height…
Jason and Gary White, directors of GE White and Sons Ltd, have been fined for failing to ensure employees were safe when working height.
The two brothers were reported to have workers constructing a steel framed building at a property in Lewes on 17 March 2015.
An inspector from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reported seeing roof sheets being fitted at between four to five metres from the floor with no safety netting or scaffolding in place.
Additionally, employees were standing on the roof sheets, putting themselves at risk of falling.
The firm was served with a Prohibition Notice, which stopped work from continuing until the issue was resolved.
However, a second site visit six days later found the structure had only been partly netted and one side of the scaffold had been removed.
The case presented at Worthing Magistrates’ Court revealed that in 2011 the firm had been issued an Improvement Notice for the same issue. At the time G E White and Sons Ltd was told to put a management system in place.
Both Directors of the firm, Jason and Gary White, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 for failure to comply with Section 4 1 (c) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. They were each fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,362 between them.