A company has been fined £133,000 after a man fell 10 metres through a fragile barn roof while helping repair a fire-damaged storage barn in Southampton.
The incident, which occurred on 9 February 2023, left the 37-year-old father-of-one with severe injuries requiring a prolonged hospital stay.
The man had been working on the sloped roof, fixing new panels to the timbers, when the surface gave way under his weight. An investigation revealed that no safety measures, such as protective netting, barriers or suitable access equipment, were in place to prevent such an accident.
Investigation Exposes Safety Failures
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Dodwell Farm Limited, the company responsible for the barn, had failed to take adequate precautions to ensure the safety of workers or others affected by the work.
HSE Inspector Nicola Pinckney said the accident could have been prevented. “Too many workers are injured and killed every year as a result of falling from height. The sentence imposed on Dodwell Farm Limited should underline to everyone who carries out work at height that the courts, and HSE, take a failure to follow the regulations extremely seriously.”
She emphasised that readily available measures, such as avoiding work on fragile surfaces and using protective netting, could have averted the accident entirely.
Court Outcome
Dodwell Farm Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £133,000 and ordered to pay £8,816 in costs and a £2,000 surcharge at Southampton Magistrates Court on 3 January 2025.
Falls from height remain one of the leading causes of workplace fatalities and serious injuries in the UK. Common incidents involve falls from ladders or fragile surfaces, making compliance with safety regulations crucial.
Inspector Pinckney reiterated the HSE’s firm stance on such failures, saying the “HSE will not hesitate to take action against companies which do not do all that they should to keep people safe.”