A scaffolding contractor has been prosecuted after an employee suffered multiple injuries when he fell seven metres through a roof in Stoke-on-Trent.

The 28-year-old employee of Fred Lewis Scaffold Company Ltd was installing scaffolding on 30 April 2010 at a factory in Plantation Road, Newstead Industrial Estate, when he fell through the fragile roof.

Fenton Magistrates' Court heard that Gary Hampton shattered his thigh bone, bruised his lungs, broke both wrists, broke two vertebrae and cracked another.

He was in hospital for six weeks and will never be able to carry out any manual work again as his injuries have left him with considerable pain in his left leg and extremely weak wrists that require further surgery.

A Health & Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident found the company did not prepare or survey the job properly at the outset and failed to supervise or train its employees adequately.

Fred Lewis Scaffold Company Ltd, whose registered office is in Birmingham Road, West Bromwich, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £19,000 costs.

HSE inspector Alastair Choudhury said: "This case highlights both the dangers of working on fragile roofs and the continual exposure of scaffolders to the risk of falling from height.

"It is very sad that a man with a family to support is now unable to work as a result of an entirely preventable incident. If Fred Lewis Scaffold Company had carried out an adequate survey of this job before starting work and supervised and trained its employees properly, the risks involved would have been identified.”

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