Merseyside builder fined £1,000 for Health and Safety breach

A Merseyside builder has been fined after he was spotted working on a pub roof in St Helens without safety equipment.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Charles Molloy from Molloy Building Contractors, after an inspector spotted men on the roof of a pub in June 2009.

St Helens Magistrates’ Court heard that 64-year-old Molloy had been hired to replace the ridge tiles on the top of the pub roof. But neither he nor the worker he employed wore harnesses, or took any other safety precautions, which included putting up scaffolding.

Molloy also ignored advice from an environmental health officer, who had spoken to Molloy about the way in which he was working, a few days before the HSE’s visit.

Molloy pleaded guilty to breaching regulations of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 by failing to take measures to prevent workers falling. He was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay £1,000 towards the cost of the prosecution.

HSE inspector Sandra Tomlinson said: “Mr Molloy apparently had little concern for his own safety, or that of those he employed, by working so precariously on a rooftop.

“When we visited the site and saw both men still working on the roof without safety equipment after previous warnings, we had no choice but to take legal action.

“Falls from height kill dozens of workers every year and seriously injure hundreds more. We will therefore continue to prosecute employers who put lives in danger.”

Falls from height are the biggest single cause of workplace deaths in the UK, the HSE said.