Firm fined £13.5k for fatal workplace accident

Elgin Sheriff Court in Scotland has fined a company £13,500 following a workplace accident which led to a 13-year-old boy sustaining fatal injuries.

Farming firm John Irvine and Son pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 after the firm was prosecuted following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

It was revealed during the case at the court - which is around 175 miles north of the capital city Edinburgh - that an incident in August 2006 saw schoolboy Austin Irvine fall 4.5 metres to the ground after a skylight collapsed under him as he walked on the roof of a farm building.

The child - who was the stepson of the company's junior partner - was watching the gutter in the valley between the cattle shed and feed passage roofs being cleared when the top of the building fell through.

HSE inspector Ann Poyner commented after the case: "This tragedy should never have happened and could have been prevented."

Posted by Helen Jones
 

31/08/2010 16:18