Newsagent company fined after Renfrewshire worker's fall led to severe injury
A newsagent company has been fined for health and safety failings which left a Renfrewshire worker with severe injuries.
West Yorkshire-based Alliance Property Holdings Limited, which trades as McColl's, pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 at Paisley Sheriff Court last week and was fined £6,000.
The prosecutor told the town's court that, around 12.30pm on May 25, 2023, within RS McColl, Paisley, the branch supervisor went to the storeroom to retrieve stock.
She was using a stepladder to access the stock stored on a high shelf and, while doing this, she fell from it. A colleague heard a thud and saw the woman lying on the floor with her head leaning against a plastic box.
Paramedics were called to the scene and, using a backboard, the woman was taken to the town's Royal Alexandria Hospital to be assessed.
She was found to have fractured ribs, a fractured right elbow and a head injury resulting in swelling. She subsequently underwent surgery on her elbow which required a plate insertion.
Local authority environmental health officers conducted a safety check of the stepladder, using publicly available guidance, and found that the right-hand side of each of the stepladder rungs had severely worn treads, which were smooth over large areas, resulting in no grip on these parts of the treads.
The Renfrewshire Council investigation found the company had failed to ensure that this piece of work equipment was maintained in effective working order and in good repair.
The stepladder had been in use over the last 28 years and it is not known when it became defective.
Since this incident, all RS McColl stores in the UK were provided with an updated ladder procedure detailing how to use ladders safely as well as how to determine basic faults.
Equipment found to be damaged or defective must be immediately taken out of use until properly repaired or replaced.
Debbie Carroll leads on health and safety investigations for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).
Following the sentencing hearing, she said: 'This accident could have been avoided if Alliance Property Holdings Limited had put in place the appropriate protective measures in ensuring work equipment, in this case a stepladder, was maintained in good working order.
'Hopefully this prosecution will remind other employers that failure to fulfil their obligations can have severe consequences and that they will be held to account for their failings.'
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