Fall through a fragile roof - serious injury

A father and daughter who own and run a farm in Hertfordshire have been fined after an employee fell through a fragile barn roof and suffered multiple fractures.

In August 2010, two employees were cleaning the roof of a barn by standing on scaffold boards placed over the roof and brushing the area with brooms (as they had been instructed by their employers). The asbestos cement roof cracked and one of the employees fell 5m onto the concrete floor below. He suffered multiple fractures to his pelvis and ribs and was unable to walk for several months.

After the hearing an HSE Inspector said:

Working at height without any safety precautions in place will always put employees at risk. In this case there was an added risk as the surface the men were working on was fragile. Standards for working on fragile roofs are well-established and extensive guidance is available on HSE's website.

This incident could easily have been avoided if these had been followed. Falls from height are among the biggest causes of workplace deaths in the UK and the outcome of this incident could have been even more serious.

Last year, more than 4,000 workers suffered major injuries as the result of falls from height and 12 workers lost their lives.

The employers pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9(2) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and each were fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £2,083 in costs between them.