A Health & Safety Executive inspector visited a site in Worcester on 16 October 2009 and found three employees of Spanclad Construction replacing skylights at a height of over 5m, with no fall protection as they walked across a fragile roof.
Worcester Magistrates' Court heard that the workers had to walk along 600mm staging boards on the building roof to the skylights. The boards had no guard rails, there was nothing for the workers to hold onto and there was no safety protection underneath - such as netting, soft landing bags or a birdcage scaffold - to prevent them from falling through the fragile roof onto the concrete floor.
The work at the premises of Adroit Modular Buildings had already been in progress for at least three days when the HSE inspector visited, following an unrelated incident involving another company.
Spanclad Construction Ltd, of Nursery Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £5,271 costs.
HSE inspector Paul Humphries said: "Walking on staging boards with no handrails, while on a 5m-high fragile roof and near fragile skylights, without bags, nets or any similar protection underneath, or any other fall arrest system in use, poses a significant risk to the safety of workers, should they trip or step off the boards or onto the roof or a skylight.
"This is an unacceptable work practice, particularly as clear guidance on working at height is available from HSE."
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