Firm fined £80,000 after employee injured in fall

Ball Colegrave is one of the UK's largest wholesale distributors of seed and plants

A horticultural company has been fined after an employee suffered serious injuries after falling from a ladder.

The man, who was working at Ball Colegrave Ltd, had been tasked with checking irrigation that was watering hanging baskets at the site in Adderbury, Oxfordshire, on 7 June 2023.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said that as he climbed the ladder it fell and collapsed under him, leaving him with five broken ribs and a partially collapsed lung.

At a hearing at Oxford Magistrates' court last month, the company admitted a breach in health and safety law and was fined £80,000.

The firm was also ordered to pay more than £7,000 worth of costs during the same hearing.

It followed an investigation by the HSE which found that the company had "failed to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the health, safety and welfare at work of all their employees".

The HSE added that there was a "failure to ensure that work at height was planned and carried out in a manner which was so far as is reasonably practicable safe".

Following last months hearing, HSE inspector Rebecca Gibson said: "This incident highlights the duty on employers to ensure that should do all they can to minimise the risk from working at height.

"If work at height isn't properly planned and unsuitable work equipment is used, people can fall and sustain serious injuries."

She added that falls from height remained a leading cause of workplace injuries.