- George Nicholls improvised when he could not reach shop front from road
- He positioned ladder on top of van and climbed up while colleague held it
- Passer-by spotted the set-up and reported Nicholls to the local council
- He admitted breaching health and safety laws and was fined £4,000
- Company who sub-contracted work to his firm fined £10,000 by magistrates
A roofer has been fined £4,000 after he balanced a 20 foot ladder on top of his van to paint guttering on building next to a busy road.
George Nicholls, 25, generously improvised when he found he could not reach the top of a shop front from the pavement in Southampton, Hampshire.
He put his fully-extended ladder on top of his van and climbed eight meters above ground to pain the façade, while a workmate climbed on top of the van and stood at the foot of the ladder.
However, a passer-by photographed the precarious set-up and reported Nicholls, who was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive.
"The photographic evidence speaks for itself in terms of the risks created," said HSE inspector Frank Flannery.
"Anyone can see the system of work is plain wrong, so why a supposedly competent roofer chose to work in this way is anyone's guess.
"George Nicholls blatantly and recklessly risked harming himself and others, who had clear duties of their own to ensure the work at height was properly planned, managed and executed in a safe manner.
C365Cloud is an a cloud-hosted compliance management system designed to help any organisation audit, manage and improve their statutory compliance. The award-winning system is now used by 17,000 individual users and 3500 suppliers for over 100 compliance areas at 500,000 properties.
Blogger Comment
Facebook Comment