A Herefordshire-based conservatory manufacturer and installation company has been fined £40,000 after an employee fell through the roof of a first-floor orangery home extension.
Leslie Baker was one of several employees of Atrium Conservatories Limited, working to install an orangery extension covering the footprint of a former first-floor balcony at a house in Abberley, Worcestershire on 9 February 2024.
While working on the roof trusses, Mr Baker, who was 56 at the time, stepped onto an unguarded opening for a future skylight, resulting in him falling approximately two metres to the floor below. He sustained a serious head injury, several broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and kidney damage. He remained intubated in hospital for approximately two weeks before surgery could be attempted.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that no external scaffold had been put into place around the perimeter of the extension to provide safe access or prevent falls to the ground below. Additionally, there were no measures in place internally to prevent falls into the extension.