A council has been fined £60,000 after a worker broke his ribs and collarbone when a ladder gave way beneath him.
Wirral Council was slapped with the fine following the incident after the Health and Safety Executive found that they failed to ensure that risks were mitigated.
The employee was attempting to access a loft space at the Council-operated Dale Farm site in Heswall, Wirral, when the incident occurred.
As the man approached the top of the stepladder, it gave way, causing him to fall to the floor and sustain multiple injuries.
The investigation by the HSE found that Wirral Council “failed to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of its employees by not adequately controlling the risks associated with working at height and the use of ladders.
“The investigation identified failures in the Council’s management of work at height activities.
“Ladder use was not effectively controlled and despite identifying ladders that were not in a good state of repair and unsafe to use, they remained in place, accessible to any employee who wanted to use them.
“Furthermore, employees had not received training in relation to how to assess a ladder as being safe to use.
The worker was left with multiple broken bones after the ladder gave way
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HSE
Wirral MBC pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
HSE Inspector Mike Lisle said: “This worker suffered painful and life-changing injuries in a fall that could have been prevented.
“The council failed to put in place basic measures to manage the risks associated with working at height.
“Employees had not received suitable training and ladders were not being systematically inspected to ensure they were safe.”
The single largest fine for a council was handed to Cambridgeshire County Council for £6m
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PAThe latest ruling comes just months after a GB News investigation found the councils across the UK had been fined more than £10million since the start of 2020.
The People’s Channel examined Health and Safety Executive data and uncovered that 36 breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 have been recorded from the beginning of 2020 until April, totalling £11,406,107 in costs to the various councils.
The single largest fine was given to Cambridgeshire County Council last year, after they were charged with multiple safety breaches following the death of three people on the world’s longest guided busway.
The council was fined £6million after Jennifer Taylor, Steve Moir, and Kathleen Pitts died following collisions on the Cambridgeshire busway between 2015 and 2021.
The council was charged in April last year and ordered to pay the fine over three years.
East Dunbartonshire Council committed the most breaches within the time frame, breaching five separate offences, with the total fines coming to £49,333.
The council was charged last year after a carbon monoxide leak was found within one of their schools.
They were also charged with four separate breaches on the same day in 2024, for violating the control of lead at work regulations.