Refurbishment firm fined £7,000 after employee falls 4.5m

A refurbishment firm has been fined £7,000 after a worker fell 4.5m through a roof and onto a concrete floor.

The man was working for Forster Refurbishment and Property Services on the roof of an industrial building, when he fell from the valley gutter onto a neighbouring pitch roof.

When the pitch roof gave way, he plunged 4.5m onto a concrete floor below, sustaining serious injuries.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said he was lucky to be alive.

Forster, based in Burton-upon-Trent, pleaded guilty to a health and safety offence in the Staffordshire Magistrate’s Court and was fined £7,000 and told to pay £3,138 in costs.

The court heard sufficient measurers had not been taken to support or protect anyone from falling off or through the fragile roofs where the company was working.

HSE inspector Tariq Khan said: “Forster Refurbishment and Property Services failed to implement suitable measures to prevent a fall or to provide safety netting below the fragile roof.

“There was also inadequate supervision of the work on a roof measuring in excess of 80m long and 80m wide.

“The employee who fell is lucky to be alive; we would not normally expect someone falling from that height onto a concrete floor to survive.”