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Roofing company fined £881,000 after two workers fall from height
Cristina Lago Deputy Editor
The roof of the unit at Plasmarl Industrial Estate, which a 24-year-old labourer fell through in June 2019 (Image: HSE)
A roofing firm has been fined a total of £881,000 after two workers were seriously injured in separate incidents.
A business partner at a scaffolding company was also prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following one of the accidents.
Billy Hewitt, a 60-year-old worker at Mitie Tilley Roofing, fractured his pelvis, left wrist and eye socket after falling through a factory roof in Newcastle on 11 November 2019.
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He landed on concrete floor 7m below while replacing a skylight and spent three weeks in hospital after the incident.
Meanwhile, a 24-year-old labourer employed by RM Scaffolding broke his femur after falling through the roof of a building while working on a project run by Mitie Tilley Roofing on 3 June 2019.
He was crossing a fragile roof when he fell through a skylight at a unit at Plasmarl Industrial Estate in Swansea. He landed on his back approximately 20 feet on the floor below, fracturing his femur and suffering a blood clot in one of his main arteries, which required long-term medication.
The roof Hewitt had been working on (Image: HSE)
Fines levied
Following the incident on 11 November 2019, Mitie Tilley Roofing Limited, of London Bridge Street, London, was found guilty of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, following a two-week trial in April 2023.
Following a three-day sentencing hearing at Newcastle Crown Court on 6 December 2023, the company was fined £575,000 and ordered to pay £84,940.08 in costs.
Following the incident on 3 June 2019, Mitie Tilley Roofing Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Following a three-day sentencing hearing at Newcastle Crown Court on 6 December 2023, it was fined £306,000 and ordered to pay £27,410.63 in costs.
Paul Robinson, of Laburnam Way, Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. He was sentenced to 120 hours of unpaid community service, to be served within 12 months, at Newcastle Crown Court on 5 December 2023. He was also ordered to pay £20,428.73 in costs.
‘This accident changed everything’
Hewitt said: “You don’t go to work in the morning and expect to end up in intensive care, but that’s what happened to me. It’s been four years since my accident and I don’t now really do anything with my days. I really miss work – I was a roofer for 40 years, but this accident changed everything because I still can’t work. I used to earn a good wage, but now I’m classed as 51% disabled and I rely entirely on benefits.”
HSE principal inspector John Heslop said: “These were both shocking incidents, which had a lasting impact on those who were injured.
“The law is clear about the measures needed to ensure safety when working on fragile roofs and there is a wide range of guidance available from HSE and the construction industry on correct ways of working. HSE will not hesitate to take action against employers who do not do all that they should to keep people safe.”
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