A Keighley photo processor was fined a total of £37,000 today after pleading guilty to six breaches of health and safety regulations.
Bradford Council was first alerted to problems at the Max Spielmann shop in Bow Street after a display unit fell on a member of staff and broke her toe.
When officials arrived to further investigate, they unearthed a systematic catalogue of health and safety failures and even found that management had been aware of dangerous display frame fittings before the incident.
Miss Jenny Ashworth, prosecuting Bowie Castlebank which trades as Max Spielmann, said the display frames had fallen off the wall because they were being held up by inadequate plastic supports, which had been installed in the shop since June 2, 2006.
She said: "Prior to the accident on June 21, 2006, there had been a number of observed instances of support collapse, causing stock to fall.
"Indeed shop staff had reported their concerns to management on at least two occasions, with management having witnessed one instance of support collapse themselves."
Frames had also fallen on a member of the public and an engineer, and at one stage the shop manager even informed the area manager in writing that the "shelves were still very unstable" and "stock was still falling off/down due to shelves".
The company was also prosecuted because its health and safety files were out of date and referred to another firm, and the health and safety training provided to staff and managers was found to be "totally inadequate".
Barrie Hall, for the defence, said Bowie Castlebank accepted there had been a breakdown in health and safety systems but that in recent months many steps had been taken to change this.
He said: "The company has taken considerable steps to improve its health and safety measures.
"There is now a system in place whereby if someone hasn't done their training it will show up, and 1,000 staff out of 1,800 have been through that training so far."
When reading out the fines, the bench chairman said she was very surprised that a company the size of Bowie Castlebank had neglected such health and safety issues.
The company was also ordered to pay £2,349 in costs and £10,000 in legal fees.
Speaking after the hearing at Calderdale Magistrates' Court in Halifax, Bradford Council environmental health officer Anthea Petts said: "I am pleased with the result. I think we have got the company to take health and safety more seriously and it has sent the message out that companies have a duty that they should fulfil.
"No matter what the size of the company, be it large or small, people have an obligation to provide adequate health and safety to their staff and the public."
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