A fine of £5,000 has been issued after three workers fell through skylights at the same industrial unit in Warrington on three separate occasions – leaving one of them paralysed.

During a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution, Warrington Crown Court heard that a caretaker from Accrington, employed by Bizspace Investments Ltd, fell through a fragile skylight while cleaning guttering on 20 March 2007.

The worker suffered multiple rib fractures and severe bruising. Another Bizspace employee was sent to take photographs of the scene, at the industrial unit on Craven Court industrial estate at Winwick Quay, but fell through a different skylight. He landed feet-first on a mezzanine floor and escaped injury.

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Three weeks later, a 62-year-old man from Bury, employed by Massey Roofing and Building Contractors, was sent to repair the skylights.

While fixing a skylight, the worker, who asked not to be named, fell more than four metres to the ground below. He sustained severe spinal injuries, leading to him being paralysed from the waist down. Bizspace, the building's owner and the employer of the first two men, and Anthony Massey, trading as Massey Roofing and Building Contractors, were prosecuted by HSE for putting workers' lives at risk.

Bizspace Investments Ltd, of Finchley, London, pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act.

The company was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £9,000 at Warrington Crown Court. Anthony Massey, 67 of Sunnybank Road, Bury, pleaded guilty to breaching the same Act. As he has been declared bankrupt, Mr Massey received a conditional discharge which means that he will not be fined as long as he does not commit another offence in the next twelve months.

(BMcN)