Effective Risk Management

Case Study Two

An employee fell from a step ladder whilst changing a light bulb and suffered a compound fracture of his left ankle.

The employee had placed the step ladder at the top of a flight of stairs beside a first floor balcony. The light that he was trying to reach was on the outside of the balcony rail. In order to reach the light, the injured person had to stretch over the balcony and in so doing, the steps overbalanced and he fell over the balcony landing on his left ankle on the floor below.

An investigation revealed that there had been no risk assessment undertaken for this particular task, there was no safe system of work and the employee had received no training in the correct use of ladders.

The HSE were not involved in this case, however the individual made a claim for compensation. Due to the lack of documentation and training records, it was impossible for the insurers to defend the claim and it was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Discussion

If a risk assessment had been done, then the risk of falling from height would have been identified and control measures could have been written into the safe system of work. Under the new Working at Height Regulations, ladders should be used as a means of access to a working platform and step ladders should only be used if a risk assessment can show that it is safe to do so.

In this case, an assessment would have shown that the use of step ladders was unacceptable and that either a tower scaffold or mobile elevated working platform (MEWP) would have been a safer alternative. The risk assessment could also have identified the training needs of this individual to ensure that he had the necessary skills to carry out his work safely.

By ensuring that the relevant documentation was available and that the individual had received training, the only way this accident could have happened would have been if the individual had failed to follow established procedures and behaved in an unsafe manner. This would then have been much easier for the insurers to defend and would most likely not have resulted in a claim for compensation in the first place.

Summary

Having risk assessments, safe systems of work and training employees will help to reduce the risk of accidents occurring in your workplace. However, recording the fact that you have done risk assessments, written safe systems of work and trained your employees is vital for defending your business against prosecutions and compensation claims. If you don’t have records, you can’t prove you’ve done it.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations require employers to:

• Undertake risk assessments
• Have in place arrangements to cover health and safety
• Provide health surveillance
• Appoint one or more competent persons to provide health and safety advice and assistance
• Have procedures for serious or imminent danger and for danger areas
• Provide information for employees
• Co-operate and co-ordinate with other employees
• Ensure that employees are trained and competent to undertake their tasks

Failing to carry out these duties could not only result in accidents occurring and prosecutions by the HSE, but also individuals wishing to make compensation claims for injuries or ill health sustained at work can use any failure to comply with these regulations as a means of ensuring a successful claim can be made.

Further Information

For more details please call Mark Rastrick on 07966 174360 or simply email us at info@grmhs.co.uk and we will contact you.