Freight trailer manufacturer Gray & Adams has been fined after a worker fell whilst working on a fragile roof.

The Aberdeenshire-based company pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 6(3) of The Working at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £5,300.

John Strachan, 50, suffered a fractured hand when he fell on the roof of the brake department at the company's site in Fraserburgh on 11 December 2013.

Peterhead Sheriff Court heard the roof was entirely made up of asbestos cement sheeting with a number of roof lights but no fragile roof warning notices were displayed on the building.


A HSE investigation discovered that installation, maintenance and cleaning work had been carried out on the roof over a period of time, with insufficient fall prevention measures in place.

HSE Inspector Niall Miller said: "Precautions for working on fragile surfaces should have been taken by the company. Everyone within the maintenance team were fully aware that the roof was fragile.

"The risk assessment Gray & Adams had in place for working on roofs included the control measure 'wear safety harness' however this building roof had no system in place or any means for attaching a harness. The use of 'crawling boards' was not suitable or sufficient.

"John Strachan was fortunate to have fallen on the roof itself. If he had fallen through it he could have been more seriously injured, or even killed.

"Following this incident a new risk assessment for roof work was carried out by the company and this identified the need to investigate further fall protection measures."

(LM/CD)