A PUB chain has been fined £235,000 for death of a cleaner

A PUB chain has been fined £235,000 for health and safety failings which contributed to the death of a cleaner.

Richard Pratley, 65, died from a fractured skull after falling from a ladder as he tried to clean the roof of the “boathouse” inside the Snuff Mill Harvester on Frenchay Park Road.

Bristol Crown Court heard the restaurant’s only stepladder was “unfit for service” – too short for the job, damaged, dirty, greasy and rusty.

The manager at the time, Petula Palmer, had asked the popular grandfather to do the job and despite raising concerns to her, he went in early on January 19, 2009, to do it.

As he couldn’t reach the top of the roof – about 14ft up – he attached his brush to a mop handle. CCTV showed he stood with one foot on the top rung of the ladder shortly before losing his balance, falling and hitting his head.

Led by health and safety inspector Heather Clarke, the city council began an investigation. Not only were failings found to do with working at height, but other serious issues emerged. An unlocked electrical cupboard was found to have 83 defects, including live exposed wires.

Ms Clarke also found slip hazards in the kitchen when wet, and trip hazards in the outside yard.

Prosecutor Alan Fuller said the Harvester’s risk assessments were “inadequate”, neither Mr Pratley nor Ms Palmer – who later resigned – had been trained on ladder use and audits had not picked up the hazards in question. There were six slipping accidents between 2007 and 2009.

Mitchells and Butler, which owns 1,600 pubs and restaurants, admitted three health and safety breaches.

Judge Michael Roach said Mr Pratley’s fatal fall was “foreseeable” and that his employers had “failed” him. He ordered they pay £65,000 costs.

A restaurant and hotel firm has been fined £15,000

Lincolnshire window cleaner fined £2,500 and ordered to pay costs of £2,948.20.

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