A Newquay-based hotel company may have benefited from undertaking OHSAS 18001 training after it was fined for breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) brought the prosecution because the firm did not provide guardrails on a bridge which crossed an excavation site.

Bluechip Hotels Ltd, of Lusty Glaze Road, Porth, was ordered to pay a £3,000 fine and £2,000 in costs over the incident.

HSE inspector Barry Trudgian commented: "41 employees suffered major injuries following falls from height in Cornwall in 2008-09. This toll may have been even higher if the unsafe working practices at this site had continued."

The organisation also noted that there were also concerns about walkways around the site being blocked.

Bluechip Hotels failed to act on the two improvement notices issued by the HSE in 2008.

Earlier this month, a Hull-based building company was fined £1,000 after it erected unsafe scaffolding for the use of its employees, which could have led to serious injuries.

Posted by Stacey Wilkinson

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