A security company has been fined £6,000 after a maintenance worker broke his elbow when he fell more than three metres through fragile ceiling tiles.

The engineer, who does not wish to be named and was injured at a site in Essex, was attempting to access an electrical control panel in a ceiling void to fix a faulty roller shutter door when the incident happened on 21 December 2012. He sustained a fractured elbow and ankle.

Security Door Systems Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation identified they had failed to make sure the work on the ceiling panels was carried out safely.


Basildon Magistrates' Court was told the engineer, who had worked on the same door on previous occasions, accessed the void by a ladder supported by a colleague. He then made his way across the ceiling panels, which were attached directly to the underside of timber joists, using a wooden ply board as a work platform.

After repairing the control panel and checking the door was operational, he fell through the ceiling to the floor below.

HSE found the company didn't have a sufficient risk assessment in place for undertaking work at height on the site. Following the incident the electrical control panel was relocated to ground level to avoid the need to work on the fragile ceiling.

Security Door Systems Ltd, of Thurrock Commercial Centre, Purfleet Industrial Park, Aveley, Purfleet, was also ordered to pay costs of £440 after pleading guilty to a single breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

(CD/JP)