A roofing company has been fined a total of £881,000 for two separate incidents in which workers were seriously injured in falls.
Mitie Tilley Roofing Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) over incidents which took place in 2019 in Newcastle and Swansea.
Billy Hewitt, 60, fell 7 meters through the roof of a factory in Newcastle while repairing a skylight and landed on the concrete floor. He was in hospital for three weeks, after fracturing his pelvis, left wrist and eye socket.
Hewitt said: “It’s been four years since my accident and I don’t really do anything with my days.
“I was a roofer for 40 years, but this accident changed everything because I still can’t work.”
According to the HSE, Mitie Tilley failed to properly plan and carry out the work. The investigation found that work at height had not been properly assessed as self-contained work. There were no safety nets under the skylight where Hewitt fell, although there were safety nets in other sections of the roof.
Mitie Tilley was found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety Act 1974 and the Working at Height Regulations 2005 after a two-week trial in April 2023. After a three-day hearing sentencing days at Newcastle Crown Court this week (December 6), the company was fined £575,000 and ordered to pay £84,940.08 in costs.
At the same hearing, the company was also fined for an incident at the Plasmarl Industrial Estate in Swansea on 3 June 2019. A 24-year-old man working for RM Scaffolding fell through a skylight about 20ft from height and fell to the floor. back He fractured his femur and suffered a blood clot in one of his major arteries, requiring long-term medication.
The HSE found that Mitie Tilley, the main contractor, had not properly planned, managed and supervised the work carried out by RM Scaffolding.
The HSE also found that RM Scaffolding business partner Paul Robinson had failed to plan the work properly, failed to provide adequate fall protection on the roof and failed to ensure his staff had the skills, knowledge and experience suitable
Mitie Tilley pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company was fined £306,000 and ordered to pay £27,410.63 in costs.
Robinson pleaded guilty to breaching work at height rules 2005. He was sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid community work and ordered to pay £20,428.73 in costs at Newcastle Crown Court on Tuesday (5 of December).
HSE Chief Inspector John Heslop said: “Workers are injured or killed every year as a result of falling through fragile ceiling lights without adequate fall prevention or protection measures in place.
“These were both shocking incidents, which had a lasting impact on those injured.”
