Lakeside fined after working at height accident

An Essex company has been fined £13,400 after an accident which took place while working at height left a worker with a number of injuries.

Lakeside Container Services also paid £3,380 in costs after admitting a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The employee slipped 7.5 metres from a ladder and broke his neck, skull and leg after attempting to secure the second of two containers which were in the process of being lifted.

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), this procedure was unsafe and no risk assessment had been carried out.

HSE inspector David King claims slips, trips and falls account for a third of injuries and at least one death a week.

"The employee has lasting physical injuries which have affected his capabilities at work and has also impacted on his leisure time – he was a keen motor biking enthusiast," he states.

According to the organisation's statistics, nearly 11,000 workers have suffered a serious injury from a slip or trip in the last twelve months.