Firm failed to check competence

摘要

A toy manufacturer has been fined ￡200,000 for failings that led to a fatal fall through a fragile plastic skylight on a warehouse roof. A self-employed "jobbing" builder was sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for 12 months, for his role in the incident. Craig Gray died on 19 July 2012, while helping to clean a 36,000 square foot asbestos cement roof at Halsall Toys Europe's site in Fleetwood, Lancashire. HSE inspector Allen Shute said Halsall Toys had hired David Plant, who was unemployed, to clean away the accumulated debris that had been running from the roof into the valley gutters, causing them to overflow into the building. Plant's son, a Halsall Toys employee, had suggested his father for the job; Plant then involved Mr Gray, who was a family friend and a fellow unemployed builder. Mr Gray's 17-year-old son was also on the roof helping the two men. No one saw what happened but, around lunchtime, Mr Gray fell through the skylight onto the floor nine metres below. He died at the scene.