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Family of painter in fatal ladder fall back new safety campaign
THE family of a painter and decorator who died from injuries sustained in a fall from a ladder have backed a health and safety campaign.
Trevor Dawson was left with brain damage and needed round-the-clock care after he fell from a domestic-style stepladder described as “flimsy” and unsuitable for industrial use.
He had been painting a dormer window during refurbishment work on student accommodation in Newsome, Huddersfield, back in August 2007.
Mr Dawson, from Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury died in June 2010 at the age of 62.
Two companies were prosecuted for health and safety breaches but his son, who lives in South Yorkshire, says he does not want other people to have to go through the trauma of losing a loved on.
The family are backing a new inspection week-long initiative from the Health and Safety Executive aimed at reducing deaths and injuries on building sites.
From today inspectors will be visiting sites in Kirklees and Wakefield where refurbishment or repair works are being carried out.
The primary focus of the inspections will be on high-risk activity such as working at height and also “good order” such as ensuring sites are clean and tidy with clear access routes and good welfare facilities. They will also assess general site safety to identify potential risks.
The purpose of the initiative is to remind those working in construction that poor standards are unacceptable and could result in enforcement action.
Mr Dawson’s son Neil, 42, from Barnsley, younger brother Paul and their mother, Jackie, who still lives in Dewsbury are backing the campaign.
Neil Dawson, a machine operative, said: “The loss of Dad left a huge hole in all our lives. My mother lost her soulmate and she has never got over his loss.
“My partner and I have five children and two of them never got the chance to meet their grandad.
“It is still a mystery why my father, who was so safety conscious and had been all his working life, was on a ladder that was not up to standard for the work being undertaken on the site.
“He had been a decorator since he was 16 so he was very experienced. He’d talk about retiring and living on the east coast by the sea, but that was all taken away so quickly.
“Any campaign that highlights the dangers faced by workers on building sites gets our support. Safety is paramount – it is someone’s life after all. You don’t get a second chance.”
During 2010/11, two workers were killed while working in construction in West Yorkshire and more than 100 major injuries were reported.
There were seven deaths and nearly 250 serious injuries across Yorkshire and the Humber as a whole.
David Stewart, principal inspector for construction for HSE in West and North Yorkshire, said: “This will be the sixth year that we have run the inspection initiative and we anticipate that that we will see examples of good practice - where employers are taking the right steps to protect their workers – and bad - where safety comes too far down the list of priorities.
“Poor management of risks in this industry is unacceptable, especially when many of the incidents can be avoided through simple precautions. As we have demonstrated in the past, we will take strong action if we find evidence that workers are being unnecessarily put at risk.
“Although the inspection initiative will primarily be focusing on construction sites in Kirklees and Wakefield, any site in West Yorkshire could be visited during the campaign. Employers should ensure that sites are safe places to work or expect enforcement action to be taken.”
HSE has targeted the three other West Yorkshire areas of Leeds, Bradford and Calderdale in previous years’ construction campaigns. Information about safe-working can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/construction
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