A business has been fined £60,000 for serious safety failings after a man died when he fell more than five metres through a fragile roof.
Latvian national Nikolajs Naumovs, 57, was working with his nephew to remove asbestos cement sheets from the roof of a building and was sitting with him near the apex of the roof when it suddenly collapsed beneath them.
His nephew Nikolajs Cernovs managed to grab something and was left hanging from a wall but Mr Naumovs fell five-and-a-half metres to the concrete floor below and died at the scene from head injuries.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the pair should never have been on the roof itself as the telehandler being used was not suitable for the work.
It also found that the circumstances leading up to the fatal incident showed poor communication, a lack of instruction and supervision, the use of equipment which was not suitable for the task and the work being carried out in a manifestly unsafe manner.
The incident happened at premises owned by local butchery company Bruce of the Broch 1886 Ltd in College Bounds, Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, on August 21, 2009.
At Peterhead Sheriff Court yesterday, Bruce of the Broch 1886 Ltd, of Broad Street, Fraserburgh, was fined £80,000, which was reduced to £60,000 after the company pled guilty to breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
The court heard that Mr Naumovs and his son Juris had arrived in Scotland in early August that year to work and were staying with his other son, Vjaceslavs, and nephew Mr Cernovs.
Both his other son and Mr Cernovs were employed by the company which, although it was primarily a family butcher, was converting premises in College Bounds into residential property.
The HSE investigation found that the evening before the incident the company's managing director had visited the property to plan the next day's work with the pair.
Neither of the men had a thorough grasp of English and formed the impression that they were to start removing the roof the following morning in his absence.
The two men appear to have also formed the impression that they could bring in additional workers to undertake this task, if required, who would be paid by the company for any work they did.
They asked Mr Naumovs and his son Juris to help dismantle the roof the next day.
The HSE found that the men should not have been on the roof and that the company would have been able to intervene to stop the roofing work had there been more effective and regular supervision.
Following the case, HSE principal inspector Niall Miller said: "This tragic incident could have been avoided had the work been planned properly and carried out with the correct equipment.
"This type of work should ideally be undertaken without the need to directly access the roof, for example by using a mobile elevated working platform, or, if that is not possible, with safety measures to minimise the risk of falling such as crawling boards, fall arrest harnesses or netting.
"In addition, an employer needs to arrange suitable training and instruction to ensure that persons working there clearly understand not only what they are expected to do, but also how they are expected to do it in order to ensure a safe system of work will be followed.
"In this case the difficulties arising from the language barrier resulted in fatal consequences."
Falls from height continue to be the most common cause of fatality to workers, the HSE said.
In the year 2013/2014 they accounted for 29% of deaths reported to HSE, meaning that 19 workers lost their lives after a fall that year.
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