Worker fell through pig shed roof after firm ignored safety warnings.
The worker, who does not want to be named, had been employed for just two weeks and had no experience in solar panel installation. He was on all fours cutting rails for the panels when he suddenly heard a crack and the roof gave way.
The man landed, still on hands and knees, on a soft layer of animal waste on the concrete below. Although he managed to escape severe injury, he did seriously fracture his elbow and bruise his legs.
The firm was fined a total of £6,000 and ordered to pay £6,585 in costs after admitting two breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
York Magistrates’ Court was told that three days earlier, the company involved had taken measurements and started the installation.
On the morning of the accident, the farm owner spoke to the firm’s director on site because he was unhappy with the way they had been working on the shed roof. He warned that the two roofs were fragile and no work should take place without using crawl boards, which he made available.
HSE found no action was taken as a result of this advice and both the director and the inexperienced employee carried on working unsafely.
The director then left the site and instructed the man to level the rail already on the roof and chop further rails for the panels.
The injured man could have been killed, said HSE Inspector Andy Denison.
He added: “They (the company) failed to assess the risks before this job started and therefore failed to plan it properly and ensure it was carried out safely. They then chose to ignore the farmer’s warnings and use the crawlboards he had left for their use.
"The company left an inexperienced worker alone to work on the roof without suitable safety measures in place, having told him to walk on the purlins – which is extremely dangerous.
"Falls through fragile roofs and rooflights account for some 22 per cent of falls from height in the construction industry – or seven deaths and around 300 major injuries a year."
For information and advice about working at height, visit the HSE pages here.
A range of farm safety advice is available on NFUonline, here.