Tesco has been fined £500,0000 after a maintenance worker fell through a skylight at a store in Wallasey.

Tesco Stores of Tesco House, Shire Park, Kestrel Way, Welwyn Garden City, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and Regulation 10 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. It was fined £200,000 with over £712 in costs.

Tesco Maintenance, of the same address pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It was fined £300,000 with over £624 in costs.

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Liverpool Crown Court heard how the worker was part of a team tasked to carry out repairs to the roof and gutters of the Tesco Liscard Express store in Liscard Village on 13 June 2014.

However during the works, the employee fell 30 feet through a fragile skylight onto the trading area floor of the store. The worker suffered only minor injuries.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that no risk assessment or method statement had been produced prior to carrying out the work. The fragile skylights should have been identified and precautions taken, but Tesco Maintenance received no information relating to the fragility of the roof from its client Tesco Stores.

HSE Inspector Chris Hatton said he was "shocked" Tesco had failed to take even basic safety precautions.

"Contractors should treat all roofs with care and check before starting any work if they are fragile. I am shocked at a company the size of Tesco failing to take even basic precautions to prevent injury to its employees and further, to risk injury to the public," he said.

(LM/CD)