Council fined after obvious risk to employees ignored

The national regulator for workplace health and safety has said Hull City Council failed to address the “obvious risk” of employees working on ice before a worker fell and suffered broken ribs while re-laying ice at The Hull Ice Arena.

Hull Crown Court heard that on 30 August 2014 a worker was marking the lines for the ice hockey pitch at the venue on Kingston Street. He was walking towards the centre of the ice rink when he slipped and fell heavily onto the ice, suffering head injuries and breaking three ribs.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found there had been a number of previous incidents of employees slipping and falling on ice.

Hull City Council of The Guildhall, Alfred Gelder Street, Hull pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £185,000 with ££44,442.71 costs.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Denise Fotheringham commented: “No effective measures had been taken to reduce the risks of employees working on ice.

“Measures could have included providing systems of work that avoided the need for working on ice in the first place. Where this was not reasonably practicable, providing suitable footwear for working on slippery surfaces such as ice would have been an appropriate measure against a quite obvious risk.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise. hse.gov.uk

2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: legislation.gov.uk/

3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk