An incident in which a young man fell more than 9m leaving him paralysed from the chest down has seen two companies and a managing director fined a total of £170,000.
Wayne Simpson, 26, from Kettering, Northamptonshire, was installing a new racking system when he fell to the concrete floor below at a construction site off Waterside, Hadfield in Glossop, in Derbyshire.
Following an investigation, SDI Group UK of Cambridge, Steel Construction of Coventry and Richard Berwick, the managing director of RM Berwick Steel Erection Services, of Northamptonshire, were prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive.
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SDI Group UK pleaded guilty at Lincoln Crown Court to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay court costs of £20,000.
After admitting the same offence, Steel Construction was ordered to pay a fine of £50,000 and costs of £22,000.
Berwick was barred from being a company director for four years, fined £40,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,000 after pleading guilty to breaching section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Following the hearing, HSE inspector Kevin Wilson said: “It is unacceptable that a young man should suffer such life-changing injuries while just trying to do his job. Mr Simpson has been left with a long-term debilitating condition because the two companies and Richard Berwick failed to ensure his health and safety.”
