A construction firm has been fined £12,000 after a bricklayer fractured his skull in a fall.
Worcester-based 2 Counties Construction (Midlands) was prosecuted following the incident, in which worker Scott Ife fell through an unguarded stair opening from the first floor on a renovation project.
The firm had been engaged as the main contractor overseeing the refurbishment of the farm barns at the houses in Humber Lane, Telford, in 2020.
Ife was working alongside another employee placing the blocks to form the gable walls of a two-storey extension.
The couple created a work platform out of Youngman boards on the first floor of the property.
However, as there was an unprotected stairwell opening in the building, one end of the planks was not supported.
As she bent to point at the blocks on the gable walls, Ife lost her balance, falling over the unsupported boards and through the stair opening.
He plummeted four and a half meters to the concrete floor below, fracturing his skull and damaging a facial nerve.
Ife was hospitalized three days after the incident.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that 2 Counties Construction was responsible for a number of failings, including a lack of adequate controls to prevent falls into the building and through stairwell openings.
There was also inadequate planning, a lack of selection of equipment for working at height and inadequate site management arrangements.
Pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 13(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, the firm was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £4,139 in costs at Cannock Magistrates’ Court on 21 July.
HSE Inspector David Brassington said it was lucky the mason had not suffered more serious injuries.
“This incident could and should have been easily avoided,” he said.
“Work at height must be properly planned and managed to ensure that appropriate precautions are used.”
