A PLANT hire company has been fined £5,000 after a labourer suffered serious injures when he fell through a skylight.

The self-employed worker suffered head and facial injuries and was knocked unconscious during the incident. He spent nearly two weeks in hospital.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive concluded the work had not been properly planned.

The work was being carried out at Merley Hall Farm in Ashington, Broadstone, Wimborne.

Wimborne firm Cutler Bros. Ltd and its Director, Roger Martin Cutler were sentenced at Poole magistrates’ court on Monday March 29.

The court was told that on February 22 2019, a self-employed labourer was working with another colleague to fit roof sheets to a newly constructed steel framed barn. While working from the roof of an existing, adjacent barn, the worker fell through a fragile skylight in the barn roof almost four metres to the floor below.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed that the method of work meant that workers had to work near to a fragile roof without having sufficient platforms and guard rails in place. The company Director was on site directing the work.

Cutler Bros. Ltd of Horton Road, Wimborne, Dorset pleaded guilty to breaching Section 9(2) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. They have been fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,600.

As a director of the company, Roger Martin Cutler pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and has been fined £1,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,200.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Georgina Symons, said: “This incident could so easily have been avoided by simply using correct control measures and following safe working practices.

“Falls from height remain one of the most common causes of work-related fatalities/injuries in this country and the risks associated with working at height are well known.”