Risk news

Even if you are self employed the importance of health and safety should not be underestimated as your own life and that of others could be at stake.

Since working at height is the most common form of work-based accidents then this should be given particular consideration.

All work should be properly planned and a risk assessment carried out in advance, with measures put in place to minimise injuries should an accident occur.

An incident which has recently led to a prosecution involves a self-employed worker who fell through a roof when helping to remove fibre cement sheets from it.

He broke his arm and jaw as well as damaging his eye socket when he fell 16 feet off the roof of the shed on which he was working.

There was concrete floor below and no planning had been undertaken before the work started on the site which was devoid of health and safety measures.

It is well known throughout the construction industry that fibre cement roofs are notoriously fragile and should never be expected to hold a person's body weight.

Georgina Speake, inspector for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said: "There was no assessment of the state of the fragile roof and no written plan of works for the demolition, which is required by law."

There is a large amount of guidance on the subject and anyone participating in a job where such roofs come into play should seek advice.

A risk assessment would have established this fact and could have prevented the injuries which the worker sustained when he fell through the shed.

Ms Speake said: "This incident could so easily have led to a fatality and could have been prevented with proper planning."

The company for which the self-employed man was working pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and received a fine of £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,033.