Legal News
£207,000 penalty after worker falls five metres through roof (14 October 2016)
Date: 14/10/2016
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a roofing company, after a worker fell five metres through a roof, sustaining severe injuries.
On 8 August 2013, the unnamed 32-year-old labourer was working for Richardson Roofing Company Limited (RRCL) on a construction site at Kingsley Green in Radlett, Hertfordshire.
The worker was fitting battens on the roof around holes for the skylights, when he stepped on a membrane covering one of the holes and fell approximately five metres. He sustained two broken wrists and four fractures to the skull and was hospitalised for fifteen days. He has not been able to return to this type of work.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive into the incident found that the hole had previously been covered by boards – but these were later removed in order to complete the works up to hole’s edge, leaving the hole visually obscured by the thin roofing membrane.
HSE found that the company had failed to properly identify and put in place controls for controlling the hazard of falling through the roof once the boards had been removed.
At St Albans Crown Court on 5 October 2016, Richardson Roofing Company Limited of Richardson House, Moor Lane, Staines in Middlesex, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
The company was fined £200,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,865.
Duncan Lewis Personal Injury Solicitors – No win no fee Falls from Height Claims
Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors can advise those who suffer injury as a result of a fall from height caused by negligence on how to make a no win no fee claim for compensation, including claims relating to:
• Accidents at work
• Balcony falls
• Children’s accidents
• Construction accidents
• Holiday accidents
• Public liability accidents
• Roofing worker claims.
Falls from height compensation claims have to be made within three years of injury – children can make personal injury claims up to the age of 21.
Duncan Lewis also offers supportive legal advice to bereaved families whose loved one has lost their life as a result of a fall from height caused by negligence and who wish to claim compensation.
For expert legal advice on no win no fee Falls from Height Claims, call Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors on 0333 772 0409.