Cleaners fined £40k for "unsafe" system after employee fall

Sunday 30 June 2019

A cleaning company, and its Senior Supervisor, have been fined £40,000 and £3,500 respectively after an employee fell from a roof while using what the Court described as an unsafe system of work, and broke four ribs.

The Sonnic Support Solutions Limited employee had been cleaning the roof of a property in St. Saviour, using a hose and brush system, when he slipped on a wet tile and fell almost five metres onto a patio.

The man suffered serious injuries as a result of his fall, including four broken ribs and severe bruising.

Representatives of Sonnic and Nelio Mendonca, the Staff Manager and Senior Supervisor, were present in Royal Court on Friday to answer breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Law. 

The Court heard that the employee had been working as a full-time cleaner for Sonnic for about five years and had received certified training in various aspects of health and safety as well as the use of equipment.  

On 12 July, he was working with a colleague on a two-storey home in St. Saviour. Mr Mendonca had visited the property to provide a quote to the customer. Despite the quote mentioning the use of a scaffold tower, none was provided to the victim and his colleague. 

It was the second time they were working at the property and they used an extension ladder as well as a hose and brush system with a telescopic handle. The victim climbed onto the sloping roof, where the pitch was not as steep, and began cleaning the roof. At one point, he moved his feet and slipped, falling from the roof to the concrete patio below.  

Pictured: HM the Attorney General, Robert MacRae. 

In his statement, the victim said Mr Mendonca hadn’t given him or his colleague any instructions. “There was no scaffolding or nothing to stop a person from hurting themselves or falling. I was not wearing a harness,” he added.

The victim said he didn’t manage to grab hold of anything and fell “almost five metres to the garden below.” “I was lucky I didn’t fall on top of a small wall that was right beside me,” he said, adding that his whole body, his arms and his hands were “badly bruised and swollen” and still painful a month after the incident. 

During interview with the Health and Safety Inspectorate (HSI), Sonnic and Mr Mendonca denied having sent the two men to work to the property, as they were in the process of booking a scaffold but couldn’t provide evidence of this. 

Prosecuting, HM the Attorney General, Robert MacRae, said ladders were “clearly not appropriate” for the type of work and that it was an aggravating factor that the employees had been sent twice to the property to work on the roof without the scaffold tower that had been identified as necessary. 

Pictured: Advocate Adam Harrison was representing Sonnic and Mr Mendonca.

He also noted that Mr Mendonca had asked the victim’s colleague to finish the job after the incident.

He described Sonnic’s breaches as serious and moved for a £50,000 fine for the company and £5,000 for Mr Mendonca. In addition, he asked the company to pay £5,000 towards the prosecution costs.  

Defending, Advocate Adam Harrison, said the company accepted they needed to be fined but told the Court they were too high given the mitigation available.

He said Sonnic had no previous convictions, something he described as impressive as they have been in business for over 22 years. 

He also told Court that the company has made every effort to address health and safety issues since the incident, including monthly meetings with employees and a 24/7 hotline. They also appointed new Health and Safety advisors.  

Pictured: The Deputy Bailiff, Tim Le Cocq, was presiding.

Returning the sentence, the Deputy Bailiff, Tim Le Cocq, who was sitting with Jurats Collette Crill and Steven Austin-Vautier, noted that both the company and Mr Mendonca had failed to provide adequate equipment to their employees. 

He said there had been no protective measures taken at all and that the system of work was not safe.

He however noted the breach had not brought any profit to the company and the “immediate steps” Sonnic took to remedy situation, which he describes as “very substantial.” 

He fined the company £40,000 and gave them two months to pay while handing out a £3,500 fine to Mr Mendonca. He also ordered Sonnic to pay £5,000 for the prosecution costs.