A business in Aberdeen have been fined for serious failings when one of their worker’s fell five meters through a fragile roof.
Latvian (Nikolajs Naumovs, 57) had arrived in Scotland only two weeks before his fatal fall. He’s been working on a roof at a college. It was told that Mr. Naumovs was working with his nephew to remove asbestos cement sheets from the roof of the building. They had reached the roof using a telehandler. However, while the basket was on the ground being unloaded they were sitting near the apex of the roof. Unfortunately, without warning the roof collapsed beneath them.
His nephew managed to hang onto something as he fell and was left dangling from a wall, however, Mr. Naumovs had fell five and a half meters to the concrete floor and died instantly as a result of fatal head injuries.
Both Mr. Naumovs and his nephew were employed by the same company (a family butchers who were converting the premises in College Bounds into a residential property).
A HSE investigation found that the evening before the incident, the company’s managing director had visited the premises to plan the next day’s work with the pair. Neither of the men had a thorough grasp of English, they formed the impression that they were to start removing the roof the following morning in his absence.
The investigation found that the circumstances leading up to the incident showed poor communication, a lack of instruction and supervision, the use of equipment was not suitable for the task, the work being carried out has been deemed unsafe.
Bruce of the Broch 1886 Ltd, was fined £80,000, but it was further reduced to £60,000 after they pleaded guilty to breaching regulations.
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