• 23-year-old fell from ladder while erecting fence near the A19
• The work had not been properly planned
• Falls from height remain leading cause of death and injury

A fencing and land services company in Ripon has been fined after an employee suffered spinal fractures when he fell from a ladder during the erection of an acoustic fence.

The 23-year-old man was working for Metcalfe Fencing Contractors Ltd at a site in North Tyneside on the 10 of December 2024. He had been erecting a four metre tall, 265 metre long section of acoustic fencing in between the busy A19, near Holystone, and a housing estate.

The work was planned in such a way that required the use of a ladder on uneven, muddy ground, and an excavator was used to lift the fence panels over the head of the operator situated on the ladder. However, the slings of the excavator became tangled in the ladder during this operation, causing the ladder to tip, and the employee to fall approximately two metres onto the ground.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Metcalfe Fencing Contractors Limited failed to properly plan the lifting operation and the work at height activities.

Falls from height remain the leading cause of workplace death and injury and HSE guidance states that employers must ensure lifting operations and work at height activities are properly planned, and that they are carried out in a way which is, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe. This includes making decisions about whether the work at height can be eliminated entirely. You can read more about our guidance here – Work at height – HSE.

Metcalfe Fencing Contractors Ltd, of The Annexe Heatherlands, Grantley, Ripon, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £22,000 and ordered to pay £5,327 in costs at South Tyneside Magistrates Court on 29 September 2026.

HSE inspector Matthew Dundas said:

“Every year, a significant proportion of accidents, many of them serious and sometimes fatal, occur as a result of poorly planned lifting operations or work at height activities.

“This particular incident was wholly avoidable. Had the company used reasonable practicable measures such as remote release clamps on the lifting equipment, and tag-lines to avoid the need to work on a ladder, this injury would not have occurred.”

This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Iain Jordan and paralegal officer Zara Salman.

 

Further information:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We are dedicated to protecting people and places, and helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.
2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.
4. HSE guidance on working at height is available.
5. HSE does not pass sentences, set guidelines or collect any fines imposed. Relevant sentencing guidelines must be followed unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so.  The sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences can be found here.