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£80k fine follows roofer’s fall

3 Oct 22 A Leicestershire construction company has been fined £80,000 after an employee fell through a fragile roof.

An employee of Cairns Heritage Homes was repairing a roof at Nottingham Recycling Limited on 1st August 2019 when he fell seven metres to the floor below, suffering life-changing injuries.

A scaffold tower had been constructed for access to the roof but there no adequate measures in place to ensure that the work could be completed safely.

The roofer had to devise his own ad-hoc working methods, constructing a makeshift ladder/staging system from wooden planks.

An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found that Cairns Heritage Homes had been contracted to repair the roof of the recycling plant while a bailing machine was out of service. The HSE identified deficiencies in the planning and supervision of the work, and the absence of a safe system of work.

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There were insufficient measures to prevent a fall or minimise the distance or consequences of a fall such as safety netting. The makeshift staging provided by the employee was insufficient and failed to prevent a fall through the fragile roof panels resulting in them sustaining serious injuries.

Cairns Heritage Homes Limited, of Old Parsonage Lane, Hoton, Leicestershire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay costs of £9,981 at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on 28th September 2022.

HSE inspector Philip Gratton said after the hearing: “Work on fragile roofs accounts for around a fifth of all fatal incidents that occur in the construction industry. Those in control of work on fragile roofs and other work at height have a responsibility to devise safe methods of work and to provide the necessary information, instruction, training, and supervision of their workers.

“If a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to this incident, the life-changing injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented.”

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