What do people think of this: http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2012/rnn-yh-8712.htm Employer's premises had a flat roof accessed from a door at first floor level. Roof had fragile roof lights and no edge protection. Door was kept locked, but key was hanging nearby. Employee went onto roof during lunch break and fell through roof light. Employer held liable. If an employee unlocks a locked door and wonders out on a flat roof not intended for the purpose, I'd struggle to find them blameless (admittedly , the report doesn't say they were held blameless - there may have been a contributory negligence argument or some such). I'm concerned because we have locked doors (access to plant room, access to lift shaft, access to lift motor room etc) and locked cages (gas and electrics stuff) and so on. None of them have the key in the lock or hanging nearby, and all are signed with 'no unauthorised access', 'keep out' or similar, but all the keys are accessible to nearly all the staff in a key cabinet that is itself remote from those things, but not locked.

From the HSE press release "Some four years earlier, in a risk assessment by its own health and safety consultant, the practice had been warned the roof lights were fragile and that no protection was in place to prevent falls from the open roof edges. The owner had also failed to act on advice to remove the keys to the roof access door and to post 'no entry' signs." I think this is the critical bit, not acting on the advice of the risk assessment.

p.s. (ref #2 above). You can only open up a can of worms if someone supplies you with a can opener. QED.

Why not keep the key accessible, put signage up appropriately and inform employees about who is authorised and in what circumstances, then put an alarm on the door. Anyone who needs access in an emergency will not mind the alarm sounding, but the unauthorised person would not want to set it off. If planned work is required the alarm could have a remote disabling point to be reinstated after completion of works ( so in effect permit to work out there). only a suggestion.

We do have a procedure that says no access unless specifically authorised. The corridor that provides access to plant rooms and lift gear has a sign at the entrance saying no admission unless authorised (and the lift gear door off that corridor has another sign saying the same in stronger terms). The lift motor room is accessed separately and has a sign on its door and a bigger more prominent sign immediately inside the door. The key cabinet is remote from all these (on another floor). I think we've done all that's reasonable, but I was concerned about a court ruling that suggests employers are liable for employees unlocking doors to places they should know are not safe places. My guess is that there's more background not reported - if the employer was effectively conniving with the flat roof being used as a lunchtime rest area, for example, and the door was locked not to keep employees out but to stop anyone coming in outside of lunch break. However, I was interested in other opinions.

Just in case anyone was tempted to read the HSE Press release and conclude that once again the "H&S Monster" had run amok; I am aware of some of the background: There was a history of staff using the flat roof for breaks, including use by groups of up to 50% of the workforce and including members of the practice management. The company had argued that taking the key out of the door and moving it to a hook was a reasonable precaution; but had no system of review to check that it was achieving the required end. So achrn, whatever system you adopt for controlling access, check it's working, and if it isn't, do something more stringent.

A Kurdizel Well aware of the Uddin ramifications but because this type of issue has long been recognised then any criminal consequences are more certain to occurr and risk control procedures need to be well managed if liability is to be avoided. Bob