Sole trader receives suspended sentence after worker injured in fall from height

A sole trader has received an eight-month suspended sentence after a worker fell four metres through a rooflight and onto a concrete floor. He pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

The worker was carrying out gutter cleaning and repair unsupervised when he stepped onto a rooflight and fell through it, sustaining life-changing injuries, including a fractured skull and cheekbone, a fractured leg and a broken wrist.

The HSE investigation found that no measures to prevent falling had been implemented and there were no measures to mitigate the distance or impact of any fall.