Accidental death after fall from ladder

THE boss of a Devon cleaning company tragically fell to his death when a ladder suddenly ‘snapped’ while he was using it, writes Anita Merritt.

Anthony Dingle, the owner of Barbican Cleaning Services in Plymouth, had been sent to Melbourne Court in Melbourne Street, Exeter, on March 10, 2020, to clean the gutters.

An inquest held in Plymouth on Wednesday heard it was a job the cleaning company – which did most of its work from on the ground – was contracted by the maintenance company of the properties to do twice a year.

However, on this occasion Mr Dingle, 56, of Plymouth, noticed the down pipe was misaligned from the top guttering. Deciding to fix the problem to be helpful, he used a ladder, which was described as 36 feet when fully extended and wooden with aluminium rungs. It was kept on top of his van.

His work colleague footed the bottom of the ladder and, as Mr Dingle climbed down, the colleague told police he heard a cracking sound and the ladder snapped, causing Mr Dingle to fall on to concrete below at about 12.35pm. He was airlifted to Derriford Hospital, where he passed away shortly afterwards.

A post-mortem examination confirmed the cause of his death was multiple injuries following a fall from a ladder. Not contributing directly to his death was ischemic heart disease.

Evidence was heard from health and safety inspector Nicole Buchanan, who instructed an expert from the manufacturer of the ladder to examine it. She told the inquest it appeared a section of the wooden sides of the ladder had snapped and the rung attached to it had collapsed.

She added there were multiple defects with the ladder due its age and being kept outdoors on top of the van. She said: “It was quite old and had water damage. Those things combined, it had various points of cracks, corrosion or general wear and tear.”

She concluded that the ladder “catastrophically failed” and its breaking was the main cause of the accident, due to its corrosion and defective elements. A secondary cause was the angle at which the ladder had been put up against the side of the building. It should have been a foot further away from the wall.

Ms Buchanan said: “It is good practice to keep ladders like this out of the elements when not being used. It is also hoped people would do checks on ladders regularly and not keep them for more than ideal life-span and, if there are signs of crack or erosion, replace them.”

A jury reached a conclusion of accidental death.