Company fined after worker falls from roof

30 January 2014

Company fined after worker falls from roof

Tauranga residential property construction company Greenway Developments has been fined $25,000 and ordered to pay reparations of $5000 after a worker was injured in a fall from the roof of a property under construction.

The company was sentenced in the Tauranga District Court today on one charge under the Health and Safety in Employment Act of failing to take all practicable steps to ensure that a contractor was not harmed while doing work he was engaged to do.

The worker fell from the roof of a garage being constructed in Tauriko, Tauranga in April last year. He was assisting others secure a truss to the top plate of the garage when it slipped and the victim lost his balance and fell approximately three metres to the concrete floor of the garage. He sustained fractures to his left wrist and jaw.

“There was no effective means of fall protection in place at this workplace, and had there been, this worker may not have been injured,” Chief Inspector Investigations Keith Stewart said.

“There is no excuse for any construction company not knowing its responsibility to make working at height safe – WorkSafe NZ (and its predecessors) has been running a wide and very active campaign to reduce injuries and deaths from falls from heights.

“There is an Approved Code of Practice for working at height that is widely available and every construction company, whether working in the commercial or residential sectors, should be working to its terms.

“This worker and his colleagues were unnecessarily exposed to dangerous working conditions, and it is fortunate that the victim did not suffer more serious injuries,” Mr Stewart said.

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ENDS

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