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Roof modifications result in workman falling through fragile roof
Leslie Heywood and his company L D Heywood Ltd have both been fined £5,000 after a farm worker suffered a fractured skull when he fell through a barn roof at Gorvin Farm, Woolsery, Devon in September 2009.
Mr Heywood had instructed the workman to cut ventilation holes in the roof of a cattle barn. The man was working alone when he fell approximately 4m through roofing sheet onto the concrete floor below.
Fragile roof falls seen “all too often”
Leslie Heywood pleaded guilty to a breach of HSW Act Section 37. Both LD Heywood Ltd and Leslie Heywood were also ordered to pay £2,500 each in prosecution costs.
HSE inspector, Tony Makin, said:
“This is a type of incident we see all too often where no precautions have been taken when working on a fragile roof.
Mr Jeffrey was left to do the job on his own with no safety precautions provided to prevent him falling from or through the fragile roof or to mitigate the consequences should a fall occur.
Simple preventative measures would have saved him from these injuries.”