£125,000 fine for glass fatality

Prosecutions and Claims |
15.10.2007

An incident in which a worker was fatally crushed under a tonne of falling glass has cost specialist glass contractor Permasteelisa (UK) and its subcontractor Newnorth £125,000 in fines. Five panes of structural glass fell onto Stephen Conlon as he helped colleagues unpack them from crates placed precariously on A-frame stillages during work to install a glass canopy at a site in East London.

"It was a very poor system of work," HSE inspector Sarah Snelling told HSW. To get the crates to balance on the stillages, Permasteelisa - which had supplied the glass and was managing the installation - had inserted independent wood blocks, bringing the glass dangerously close to the vertical. The only way to remove the front of the crate was to take off a fabric strap that held the crate against the stillage.

Conlon, who was employed by Permasteelisa's labour supplier Newnorth, was crushed under the glass when it toppled out as he helped four other men to loosen the strap and lever off the crate front. He died in hospital from his injuries six weeks later.

Snelling said that both the method statement and the risk assessment failed to address the risk of the glass falling, especially when close to the vertical. The men had come up with the system of work themselves because the method statement contained no information beyond a vague reference to removing one pane at a time.

At the Old Bailey on 14 September, Judge Morris fined Permasteelisa £100,000 with £31,847 costs after it admitted failing to ensure the safety of non-employees as required under Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. He fined Newnorth £25,000 with costs of £7,862 for breaching Section 2(1) of the Act in that it did not protect its employees.

During sentencing, he placed the majority of the blame on Permasteelisa because it was responsible for inserting the wooden blocks, which he felt was the primary cause of the accident.