{"id":124586,"date":"2023-04-12T13:15:40","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T12:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=124586"},"modified":"2023-04-12T13:15:40","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T12:15:40","slug":"firms-punished-after-health-and-safety-negligence-leads-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/firms-punished-after-health-and-safety-negligence-leads-deaths\/124586\/","title":{"rendered":"Firms punished after health and safety negligence leads to multiple deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two parties responsible for the deaths of two employees have been handed punishments by the courts for health and safety negligence<\/h2>\n

A man has been jailed after failing to administer work at height regulations<\/a>, causing a worker to fall to his death at a commercial property in north London.<\/p>\n

Patrick McCarthy, trading as All Care Home Improvements, was given a 14-month custodial sentence after Mr Andrei-Ionel Hutanu died from his injuries in 2019, a week after the fall. No scaffolding or other safety measures had been put in place to prevent potential falling.<\/p>\n

The jury at Harrow Crown Court heard how 33-year-old Mr Hutanu and another man were working on a commercial property in Neasden on 19 August 2019. Mr Hutanu\u2019s co-worker was instructed to remove building materials from a flat roof, while Mr Hutanu was told to carry out repair work on a tiled roof. Mr Hutanu was working from a roofing ladder when he fell approximately 16 feet onto the concrete alleyway below.<\/p>\n

Mr Hutanu sustained a fracture to his neck and other serious head injuries. Despite being airlifted to St Mary\u2019s Hospital in Paddington, he died a week later, on 26 August 2019.<\/p>\n

What does the law state about work at height regulations?<\/h3>\n

The Work at Height Regulations 2005<\/a> states that \u2018every employer, in selecting work equipment for use in work at height, shall give collective protection measures priority over personal protection measures; and take account of the working conditions and the risks to the safety of persons at the place where the work equipment is to be used\u2019.<\/p>\n

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident found that 37-year-old McCarthy had failed to install the appropriate measures to prevent falls from height after failing to assemble scaffolding around the perimeter of the building or flat roof where the men had been working.<\/p>\n

According to the HSE, employers should do the following to ensure safety when working from a height.<\/p>\n