Feltham freight company fined £15k after worker's death (From This Is Local London)

Feltham freight company fined £15k after worker's death

2:32pm Friday 18th December 2009

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A freight company has been fined £15,000 after a worker plunged to his death through a fragile roof.

Richard Gibbs was repairing lights at K-Line Logistics, in Central Way, Feltham, when he fell 7m to the floor in January 2007.

He was flown by air ambulance to hospital but died from his injuries.

Mr Gibbs, from Westminster, had not been trained as a roofer and was only given limited instructions before starting the job.

K-Line Logistics (UK) Ltd was fined after pleading guilty at City of London Magistrates’ Court last week to breaching health and safety laws. The company was also ordered to pay £4,752 costs.

Owen Yorath, an inspector for the Health and Safety Executive, said: “This fatality was set in motion when K-Line Logistics (UK) Ltd contracted the job of replacing the warehouse roof lights but failed to plan, risk assess, supervise or ensure the competence of those they contracted to do the work.

“It is vital that employers take steps to assess the competence of those they contract to undertake work, and on their premises, particularly high-risk work such as work on or around fragile roofs.”

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