Employee falls from scaffold - Roofer receives suspended sentence

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A self-employed roofer has been handed a suspended prison sentence following serious injuries of a worker falling from scaffold.

A 16-week custodial sentence was handed down to Daniel Hooper, to be suspended for 12 months, after 36-year-old Iain Smith fell over 25 feet whilst working for Hooper on a scaffold on the 13th of June, 2023.

Employee falls from scaffold

Mr. Smith had been tasked with carrying old roof slates manually down a ladder leading from a scaffold platform attached to a domestic dwelling in Honiton. Mr. Smith subsequently fell, breaking five vertebrae, as well as suffering rib and skull fractures.

He was airlifted to Derriford Hospital by Devon Air Ambulance. He was then put into an induced coma for five days, after which he has since made a remarkable recovery. Mr. Smith does, however, still suffer from the after-effects of his injuries.

A subsequent Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation took place, which concluded that Daniel Hooper of Hooper Roofing, had not ensured the health, safety and welfare of Mr. Smith, due to a failure to undertake any planning, have appropriate supervision for the work at height, or even provide necessary and suitable equipment to safely carry out the job.

Even in today’s working environment, falls from height are a leading cause of serious injuries and deaths in the workplace. It is crucially important that employers properly plan for work at height, regardless of the size of the building or nature of the roof work project.

All employers should take ‘suitable and sufficient’ measures to ensure that they stop anyone from falling a distance which is likely to cause injury. Ladders are a permissible method to access a scaffolding platform, though HSE guidance clearly stipulates that they should only be employed for low risk, short duration tasks. Additionally, work equipment or other measures must be utilised to prevent falls where working at height is unavoidable.

Following the conclusion of the HSE investigation, it was revealed that ladders were accessed during the transfer of heavy slate tiles to and from the scaffolding platform. In this instance, this practice was not safe as far as reasonably practicable.

There are other ways to transfer slate tiles to and from a scaffolding platform which take away the need for ladders to be used in this instance. This could be using a pulley system or a mechanical conveyor.

Daniel Hooper, of Cullompton, Devon pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. He was sentenced to 16 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work in the community at Exeter Magistrates Court on 6 February 2025. He was also ordered to pay costs of £10,875.

HSE inspector Thomas Preston said:

“Falls from height account for around half of all deaths in the construction industry and Mr. Smith is very fortunate to still be alive today.

“The risks of working at height and the control measures are well established, including the need to supervise the work appropriately. Alternative methods of moving materials up and down from a scaffold platform are available and must be considered when planning roofing projects.”

Roofer receives suspended sentence after employee falls from scaffold

A self-employed roofer has been handed a suspended prison sentence following serious injuries of a worker falling from scaffold.

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