Why are building firms STILL causing tragedies?
Richard Coulson’s favourite pastime used to be walking, but in 2016 the builder fell through a gap in the first floor of a house under construction in Grimsby, and he was paralysed from the chest down.
“I am entirely dependent on the carers who come in to look after me twice a day,” said Richard, 60.
“I have lost almost a year of my life bed-bound in hospitals, and have lost the ability to walk, because something as simple as edge protection or fall prevention equipment was not in place.”
Falls like this are a chronic scandal in the construction industry, accounting for 49% of the 196 deaths in the last five years and resulting in more than 300 Health and Safety Executive prosecutions in the last 12 months.
“Each year, our statistics show falls from height remain a major issue within Britain’s workplaces, making it clear more still needs to be done across the industry to prevent these incidents happening,” said Philip White, HSE’s Head of Operational Strategy.
“Falls from height devastate families with the resulting injuries often so profound that many people are left permanently disabled, if they’re not killed.”
Tony Ockwell from Southbourne, Dorset, was 42 when he died after falling from a roof while working on a house in Ringwood, Hampshire.
His wife Teresa has joined calls for the construction industry to clean up its act.
“If Tony had been given adequate protection for working at height, he would still be here today,” she said.
“I have lost the love of my life, the father of my daughter and I don’t want to see this happen to any other family.”
Last year two companies admitted breaches of the Health and Safety Act following the incident in July 2012 and were ordered to pay £106,000 in fines and costs.
A scaffolding company was fined £26,000 after employee Jack Brown was left in a coma for two weeks after falling more than six metres from a block of flats.
He was just 21 at the time of the accident near Bristol in 2016 and has been left with life-changing injuries including the loss of an eye.
“The change has been difficult for us all to adapt to, no one more so than Jack, who suffers continuous headaches and deals with bouts of depression regularly,” said his grandfather Mike Brown.
“Jack wants to use what happened to him to warn others about the dangers of falls from height at work and show why health and safety should not be treated lightly.”