A roofing company in Leicestershire has appeared in court after one of its employees fell through a roof light.
Stormseal Roofing (Nationwide) Ltd was fined £16,000 for the incident, which happened in April 2013 and saw the 59-year-old falling over three metres through the roof light at the firm’s premises in Nottingham.
The Nuneaton-based employee, who has asked not to be named, was repairing a damaged asbestos cement sheet roof on the day of the incident when he through the fragile adjacent roof light and onto a mezzanine below, breaking his pelvis, left elbow and left shoulder.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the usual method of work adopted by Stormseal was to install netting underneath the roof to catch anyone should they fall. However, the mezzanine beneath the area they were working was being used to store tyres so there were no nets there. There were, however, no alternatives provided.
Even though Stormseal had commissioned a scaffolder to erect perimeter edge protection round the building, this didn’t extend to a section of the main roof, which exposed workers to falls of approximately six feet.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Linda-Jane Rigby said: “The risks associated with work at height on or near fragile materials are well known, as are the controls needed to address those risks.
“Stormseal failed to identify the need for alternative measures for preventing or mitigating the consequences of a fall from the leading edge of either the staging boards or the newly-fitted roof sheets. As a result a man suffered painful injuries that could and should have been prevented.”