Oxfordshire-based contractor WG Carter has been fined £120,000 after a carpenter died when he fell through an unsafe first floor at a house refurbishment scheme in Gloucestershire.
Richard Roper had been carrying out work on the first floor of Manor Barn House, Nether Westcote, on 30 August 2022.
He was replacing damaged floor joists while other workers removed sections of flooring in the same area. Large parts of the first-floor structure had been stripped back, leaving open gaps between joists and other joists were either missing or not secured.
Roper fell from the first floor to the concrete ground floor below. He sustained severe head injuries and died in hospital the following day.
A joint investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Gloucestershire Police found that the work at height had not been properly planned, appropriately supervised, or carried out safely.
Following the incident, HSE served a Prohibition Notice, stopping further work at height until adequate safety measures had been introduced.
Serious failings
The investigation identified serious failings, including insufficient measures to prevent falls and a failure to adequately plan the work. After the incident, the company adopted a safer method of working, installing floor joists from below using appropriate work-at-height equipment and preventing access to the first floor while the work was being undertaken.
On 24 September 2026, WG Carter Ltd, of 81A Eaton Road, Appleton, Oxfordshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 at Bristol Magistrates Court. It was fined £120,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,247.
HSE principal inspector James Lucas said: “Due to the failings of this company, a man lost his life. Every year, workers are killed or suffer life-changing injuries because work at height has not been properly planned or suitable safeguards have not been put in place.”
