An injury to an employee on the job has landed one British company in hot water.
The UK division of global documents security company Iron Mountain was recently fined for safety failings after an employee fractured his arm in a fall from a dangerous step ladder.
The 48-year-old, from Barking, who did not want to be named, damaged the radius bone in his left elbow in the incident at the company’s site at Cody Road in Newham in June of 2012.
Iron Mountain (UK) Ltd was prosecuted Feb. 5, 2014 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation identified that the ladder he was using wasn’t fit for purpose.
Worker Missed Several Weeks on Job
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard the step ladder collapsed as the worker tried to reach the upper level of a racking system, sending him crashing at least a meter to the floor below. He was unable to return to work for several weeks.
HSE established that the ladder was in a poor condition and was critically weakened by a crack that eventually caused it to fail.
The court was told it was one of two step ladders available to staff that had cracks.
Iron Mountain (UK) Ltd, of Tooley Street, London, SE1, was fined nearly $8,200 and ordered to pay more than $14,600 in costs after pleading guilty to a single breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
Author Kori Shafer-Stack, Editor, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in post-injury response procedures and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: kstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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