Bowmer & Kirkland has been fined by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) after a worker was injured falling through a gap in a retail building that was under construction.
The worker, employed by a subcontractor working for Bowmer & Kirkland, was involved in a concrete pour on the first floor of the building at Fort Kinnaird Retail Park, Edinburgh, when the incident happened on 16 May 2014.
The employee was walking across a floor that was under construction when his boot caught and he tripped.
He dislodged an unsecured wooden board which had been placed over the void and exposed an opening of 2 x 1 metres. He fell approximately 4.5metres through a void in the first floor and sustained serious injuries to his back as well as a broken foot. The worker was off work for 22 weeks and suffers continuing pain.
An investigation by the HSE into the incident found that the company failed to take suitable and sufficient measures by not fixing the wooden panels placed on the void to prevent a fall.
Bowmer & Kirkland pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulation 2005 and was fined £6,600.
