A roofing firm has been fined after an employee fell through a skylight.
Northampton-based Kingsley Roofing Contractors pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety laws following the incident involving 31-year-old Ryan Robinson, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said.
The company was fined £16,650 at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 20 November and ordered to pay £7,205 costs and a £2,000 victim surcharge, it added.
Robinson was working for Kingsley Roofing Contractors at a domestic property on Sywell Road in Northampton in November 2024.
Covers that had been installed over two large skylight openings had to be removed as part of this job. Robinson fell through one while removing material from the other, dropping more than 3 metres to the ground, the HSE said.
He suffered fractures to multiple vertebrae and a facial fracture. His injuries required surgery and long-term treatment, the health and safety watchdog said.
An investigation by the HSE found that Kingsley Roofing Contractors, based at Chartergate, Clayfield Close, Moulton Park, Northampton, failed to properly plan work at height and implement measures that would have prevented the incident.
The watchdog said a crash deck or safety netting under the openings would have prevented serious injury from occurring.
HSE inspector Chris Bennet said: “Falls from height are the most common kinds of fatal accidents, accounting for over a quarter of fatal injuries to workers in 2024/25. This could be avoided through proper planning and implementation of effective controls.
“The fine imposed on Kingsley Roofing Contractors should underline to everyone in the construction industry that the courts and HSE take a failure to plan works at height extremely seriously. It is the duty of employers to ensure that everyone working on a building site returns home safely.”
Kingsley Roofing Contractors has been contacted for comment.
There were 50,000 non-fatal workplace injuries in construction in the three years to March 2025, according to data published this month.
Separate provisional statistics collated under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) recorded 3,726 non-fatal construction injuries in 2024/25 alone.
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