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Contractor jailed for lack of precautions

9 Feb 17 A Manchester building contractor has been sent to jail for eight months for failing to provide fall protection measures on a roofing job.

The prosecution of Saleem Hussain followed the death of a casual labourer who fell nearly seven metres through a fragile roof.

The 45-year-old labourer from Manchester had been carrying out repair work at Witney Mill in Manchester when the incident occurred on 23rd November 2013.

Saleem Hussain had been engaged by the warehouse owner, who believed him to be a competent building contractor, to carry out repair and maintenance work on the warehouse roof. Mr Hussain then hired two people to do the work.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that neither worker was qualified to carry out work at height. They had accessed the roof via a ladder to repair leaking guttering. No safety precautions were in place to protect them from falling through the fragile roof.

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Manchester Crown Court heard that Mr Hussain failed to assess the risks or put a safe working method in place. No suitable training or equipment to work on the roof had been provided.

Saleem Hussain of Birchfields Road, Manchester pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. He was sentenced to eight months immediate imprisonment.

HSE principal inspector Mike Sebastian said after the hearing: “The dangers of falls through fragile roofs and working at height are well known. Simple steps such as removing the need to access the roof directly by using mobile working platforms, or boarding out the roof, or using safety harnesses, can and should be used to prevent accident and injury. Mr Hussain’s failure to take any such actions resulted in a tragic and needless loss of life.”

The severity of the sentence prompted Andrew Katzen, partner and head of the regulatory team at law firm Hickman & Rose, to comment: “Custodial sentences in health and safety cases are reserved for the most egregious examples of irresponsible management. In this case there is no indication of previous health and safety offences and the contractor’s  early guilty plea would have gained him credit. That the court nonetheless deemed an eight month sentence to be appropriate reflects the severity of this complete failure to consider the safety requirements of an obviously high-risk job. This case is a reminder to managers and contractors that the courts are not afraid to impose custodial sentences. Companies may be prosecuted, but they cannot be imprisoned.”

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