IDH fined for safety failings
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- Published: Thursday, 28 June 2012 12:31
- Written by News Editor
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The operator of a Sheffield dental practice has been fined for safety failings after a receptionist fell more than three metres through a roof light while spending her lunch break on the flat roof of the surgery. Integrated Dental Holdings (IDH) was found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £18,500 with costs of £71,632.79. |
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The woman, then 40, went on to the roof of a single-storey extension at the Fir Vale Dental Practice, operated by IDH, with a colleague at lunchtime. During a two-week trial, Sheffield Crown Court heard the woman sat on the domed roof light, not realising how fragile it was. The plastic of the roof light gave way and she fell to the floor injuring her back, shoulder, knee and neck and was hospitalised. The jury heard that at least five other workers had used the roof, and were at risk of falling from the roof edge or through the roof lights.
The court heard the flat roof of the surgery was easily reached using a door on the first floor of the main building. Although the door was locked, the key was left hanging nearby.
Some four years earlier, in a risk assessment by its own health and safety consultant, the practice had been warned the roof lights were fragile and that no protection was in place to prevent falls from the open roof edges. The owner had also failed to act on advice to remove the keys to the roof access door and to post ‘no entry’ signs.
HSE Inspector Mark Welsh said after the hearing: “Falls from height are the commonest cause of fatal injuries in the workplace and are also responsible for a large percentage of the most serious occupational injuries.”
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