A SPECIALIST in theatrical drapes has been fined over £9,000 for breaking health and saftey laws while conducting work at the Jalsa Salana Muslim festival in East Worldham. Blackout Ltd, pleaded guilty to three offences brought under the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 in front of Aldershot Magistrates Court last Wednesday. The court heard that in July of last year, officers from East Hampshire District Council's health and safety and food safety teams visited Oaklands Farm, East Worldham, to carry out a site inspection in the run up to the big event. On entering one of the convention marquees, health and safety inspector Mark Jewell witnessed Mr Tim Searle, a project manager employed by Blackout Ltd, working on a tower scaffold approximately four metres high. Mr Jewell noted that the working platform did not have a fully boarded working area and did not have suitable edge protection. Further checks found the platform to be unstable and not fit for use. The court was told that although the company had carried out risk assessments, had provided training and had prepared a safe method of work, the company still failed to ensure its employees conducted themselves in a safe manner by ensuring that Mr Searle complied with Blackout Ltd's own requirements. Blackout Ltd's managing director, Steve Tuck, told the court that they had now employed a consultant to improve training and management systems. They also informed the court that Mr Searle had been disciplined internally as a result of the incident. In summing up, magistrates found that Mr Searle had deliberately broken the law. In view of the serious nature of the offences and the evidence presented before the court they fined the company £3,000 for each of the three offences and ordered them to pay £695 towards prosecution costs. Mark Jewell said: "Current health and safety inspections target areas of high accident rates in the workplace. One of these areas is work at height which last year resulted in 45 deaths, and 3,351 people suffered major injuries. "Employers must ensure that where work at height is carried out either by employees or contractors it must be carried out safely." For further information on work at height or other health and safety topics contact the council's health and safety team on 01730 234 302 or see http://www.hse.gov.uk">www.hse.gov.uk