Northampton roofing company fined in court after employee fell through skylight opening and needed surgery
A Northampton roofing company has been fined in court after an employee fell through a skylight opening, resulting in surgery and long-term treatment.
Kingsley Roofing Contractors Limited, based in Clayfield Close, Moulton Park, were fined at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on November 20, after the firm pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
The charge relates to an incident when a 31-year-old employee was working at a domestic property in Sywell Road, Overstone. He was working to recover a flat roof of single-storey extension, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Covers that had been installed over two large skylight openings had to be removed as part of preparation, but the employee fell through one of these openings whilst removing material from the other, falling more than three metres to the ground, according to HSE. His injuries required surgery and long-term treatment.
HSE investigated and found that Kingsley Roofing Contractors Limited “failed to properly plan work at height activities and implement measures that would have prevented their employees from falling through the skylight openings”.
HSE guidance states employers must ensure that work at height is properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out in a manner that is, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe. This means that control measures must be in place to prevent or protect from falls. In this case, a crash deck or safety netting under the openings would have prevented serious injury from occurring.
HSE inspector, Chris Bennet, said: "Falls from height are the most common kinds of fatal accidents, accounting for over a quarter of fatal injuries to workers in 2024/25. This could be avoided through proper planning and implementation of effective controls.
"The fine imposed on Kingsley Roofing Contractors should underline to everyone in the construction industry that the courts, and HSE, take a failure to plan works at height extremely seriously. It is the duty of employers to ensure that everyone working on a building site returns home safely."
The company was fined £16,650 and ordered to pay £7,205 in costs and a £2,000 victim surcharge.