Electrician fined after apprentice left with life changing injuries

A Birmingham electrician has been ordered to carry out unpaid work in the community after his trainee fell three and a half metres through a plasterboard ceiling.

Birmingham Magistrates’ Court heard that the apprentice electrician, Soheil Afrapour, spent 23 days in hospital after suffering head injuries. He was installing wiring above the false ceiling for Mr Soheil Alipour.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found there was no proper planning for work at height and Alipour did not fulfil his duty of care.

Soheil Alipour of Selly Oak, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to breaching Work at Height Regulations 9(2) 2005, was given 120 hours unpaid Community work and ordered to pay full costs of £1152.24.

HSE Inspector Gareth Langston said: “It’s important that employers put the safety of their workers, especially young inexperienced apprentices, at the forefront of their plans and consider precautions when working at height. This incident could have been prevented if there was proper planning in place using boards above or scaffolding below.”

Notes to Editors:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/
3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk