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- Construction company fined after fatal steeplejack fall
Construction company fined after fatal steeplejack fall
- Safe Working Practices
Peninsula Team, Peninsula Team
(Last updated )
Peninsula Team, Peninsula Team
(Last updated )
A steeplejack company has been fined £60,000 after an employee fell to his death from a Birmingham church steeple.
David Clover (64) was carrying out restoration works to St Nicolas’ Church in Kings Norton, as an employee of Ecclesiastical Steeplejacks Ltd. On 13 November 2020, Mr Clover was suspended from the church’s 60 metre-tall steeple in a ‘bosun’s chair’, or work positioning seat.
He was sitting in this chair when he fell to the ground, sustaining fatal injuries.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Ecclesiastical Steeplejacks Ltd failed to support the bosun’s chair with a suitable backup system to prevent falls, such as a double or twin leg lanyard fall arrest harness.
Ecclesiastical Steeplejacks Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. Judge Shamim Quereshi fined the company £60,000 at a hearing at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 15 January 2025.
When passing sentence, the Judge remarked that the company had “outdated attitudes” to managing health and safety. Ecclesiastical Steeplejacks Ltd, formerly of Maryvale Business Park in Stitchley, have ceased trading since the incident.
HSE Inspector Emma Page spoke after the hearing:
“Falls from height remain one of the leading causes of work-related deaths and injury in Great Britain.
“We will take action against companies that fail to protect workers. Our thoughts remain with the family of David Clover.”
HSE statistics show that falls from height remain the leading cause of fatal injuries at work. 50 people died in a fall from height at work in 2023/24. In the same period, approximately 48,000 people were injured in non-fatal falls from height.
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- Construction company fined after fatal steeplejack fall
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