NI building firm fined £17,500 after student falls

A Tyrone construction company has been fined £17,500 after a teenage student on work experience fell eight metres off a raised wooden pallet.

He was with Reid Engineering (Cookstown) Ltd at a site in Lisnaskea when he fell on 12 May 2011.

The 17 year old had been on a pallet along with three other workers which was lifted to allow them onto a roof.

It had no handrails or protection. In court, the firm admitted two breaches of health and safety rules.

After the hearing at Omagh Crown Court on 10 May, Kevin Campbell, an inspector with the Health and Safety Executive NI's major investigation team (HSENI) said: "Companies need to identify and address hazards within the workplace.

"Where work at height is planned, appropriate measures must be put in place to allow the workers to access that area, and suitable measures put in place to prevent them falling while working.

"Failure to take measures could result in workers falling to their death."

The company admitted two counts of breaking health and safety rules and was fined and ordered to pay prosecution costs.