The perils of fragile roof work

摘要

Falls through fragile parts of roofs and roof lights cause an average of seven deaths and many more serious injuries at work each year. Such falls are easily preventable: the risks are well known and there are large amounts of accessible and free guidance (see also box 1). And yet falls recur with alarming regularity. In this feature, we examine two recent prosecutions following fatal falls, which involved significant penalties for both the occupiers of the building and the contractors carrying out the roof work: 1. in the first case, a roofing contractor received a suspended prison sentence after his employee was killed in a fall through the roof of a warehouse near Manchester Airport. The logistics firm that occupied the warehouse was fined ￡250,000; and 2. in the second case, two companies were ordered to pay fines and costs totalling ￡135,000 after a scaffolder fell to his death through a fragile roof light while working at a creamery in Cornwall. This case is also notable because the judge held that an aggregation of failures by the building's occupier amounted to a significant cause of the death.