Probe after death fall
A ROMANIAN painter who died after he fell through a skylight in a roof while working on a warehouse in Olney should not have been up there, an inquest heard.
Lucian Vuta, aged 30, plunged 30ft to his death while working on the roof at Stilebrook Road.
He had been on a flat asbestos roof, using a ladder to paint a pitched roof above, and was making his way down for lunch when disaster struck.
Mr Vuta was working for Rushden based MJM Painters and Decorators Ltd and had been given six scaffold planks to use in a leapfrog system – but he and colleague, Marian Dode, only used one and a pallet to support the ladder.
David Wonford, of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), told the hearing he should not have been on the roof, even if he used all of the planks.
"If a HSE inspector had been passing and spotted it they would have stopped work, issued a notice and possibly considered prosecution even though there may not have been any injury at that point – it is such a dangerous system of work," he said.
But Mr McCarthy, owner of MJM, said he thought it was safe enough as it was a method adopted when his company decorated the same building in 1997.
MJM's own method statement, guiding staff on safe working on that site, said: "The painting of high areas will be done using a scissor lift or cherry picker", which are lifts used in the building trade.
But the method statement was only signed by two of the company's English staff – it should have been understood and signed by everyone working on site.
The inquest also heard the Health and Safety Executive should have been informed about the work, which would have meant more stringent guidelines for the firm to follow.
The jury, of three women and four men, took a little over three hours to return its verdict.
They ruled that Mr Vuta's death was an accident but pointed out five failings on the firm's behalf.
The HSE is now conducting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mr Vuta's death on November 14 2004.
lee.macgregor@mkcitizen.co.uk
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Milton Keynes
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -0 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 6 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: -4 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
