Two companies have been fined more than £60,000 after an employee fell from a roof during work to install solar panels in Brighouse, West Yorkshire.

Oswestry Shropshire Scaffold Ltd of Pool Cottage, Oswestry, Shropshire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It has been fined £28,800 with over £945 in costs.

Centreco (UK) Ltd of Hearle House, Chorley, Lancs pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It has been fined £33,500 with £945 in costs.

Leeds Magistrates' Court heard how Jhanade Ryan, a sub-contractor working for Centreco (UK), was installing solar panels to the roof of Firth Steels in December 2015.

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However, during the work he slipped on the roof, sliding down to the edge protection. The toe board of the edge protection snapped and he fell five metres through the scaffold, landing on a sub-station flat roof.

Mr Ryan suffered life changing injuries in the incident, including a fracture to his spine, a broken coccyx and nerve damage. He was in hospital for almost three months and is now unable to work due to ongoing mobility issues.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the scaffolding company had not erected the scaffold to a known industry standard or design. In addition, the investigation also found roof lights were present on the roof and that the contractor had failed to take effective measures to prevent workers falling through these fragile surfaces.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Jayne Towey said: "Falls from height often result in life changing or fatal injuries. In most cases these accidents are needless and could be prevented by properly planning to ensure that effective preventative and protective measures are in place such as edge protection or barriers built to the correct standard."

(LM)