A FINE of £20,000 has been handed to a Barnsley roofing company after a worker was injured due to safety breaches.
PNR Roofing and Building Services Limited - based at Park View in Shafton - pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
The firm was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £1,100 in costs.
Leeds Magistrates’ Court heard how in March 2016 a self-employed roofer, working for PNR, was on a roof laying wooden ‘lats’ and roofing felt when he fell through a sky light that was covered with felt.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found that whilst PNR initially provided air bags as a means of mitigating any falls by employees, the air bags had been moved to remove debris and the worker hit the floor instead.
HSE inspector Chris Tilley said: “Falls from height through fragile surfaces and skylights remain one of the most common causes of work-related fatalities in this country and the risks associated with working at height are well known.
“This incident could so easily have been avoided by simply adopting reasonably practicable safe working practices such as using netting instead of relying on fall bags.”
