38-year-old Josh Bowles had solely been in his job for 2
months and had no expertise or coaching in working at
peak when he fell from a slippery rooftop in central
Wellington in April 2023.
He spent six months in
hospital recovering from a traumatic mind damage and
a number of damaged bones. The daddy of 5 nonetheless lives with
steady ache, and has been unable to work because the
fall.
A WorkSafe investigation discovered there was solely
restricted edge safety to the roofline. In its absence, a
harness system ought to have been used to maintain staff protected
however was not. Regardless, Bowles had no formal coaching on
use of a harness or roof-anchors.
His employer,
Prowash, didn’t correctly handle the dangers of working in
wet situations on a brand new iron roof with cleansing product on
it. Prowash was unable to offer WorkSafe with any
insurance policies, or danger/hazard identification and management course of,
to show it had a protected system of labor in
place.
“This was a preventable fall which has
completely impacted a younger father’s high quality of life and
job prospects,” says WorkSafe principal inspector, Paul
Budd.
“Falls from peak are a widely known danger and
there is no such thing as a excuse for not placing correct protections in
place – particularly in dangerous climate. If the work must be
postponed till situations are extra beneficial, then do
so.
“One of the best controls are people who don’t
require energetic judgement by a employee. This contains
options corresponding to edge safety or scaffolding. If a
employee slips or missteps, as we noticed on this case, there’s a
bodily barrier between themselves and the bottom beneath,”
says Budd.
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WorkSafe says companies should handle their
dangers, and the place they don’t it should take
motion.
Background
- Prowash Wellington
Restricted was sentenced at Wellington District Court docket on 15
April 2025 - A tremendous of $40,000 was imposed, and
reparations of $77,456 ordered - Prowash was charged
beneath sections 36(1)(a), 48(1) and (2)(c) of the Well being and
Security at Work Act 2015- Being an individual conducting a
enterprise or enterprise (PCBU), having an obligation to make sure, so
far as fairly practicable, the well being and security of
staff who work for the PCBU, together with Joshua Bowles,
whereas the employees are at work, particularly whereas finishing up
work on the roof of 258 Taranaki Avenue, Wellington, did
fail to adjust to that responsibility, and that failure uncovered
staff to a danger of loss of life or severe damage from a fall
from peak.
- Being an individual conducting a
- The utmost penalty is a tremendous
not exceeding $1.5
million.
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