A caretaker at the site was cleaning guttering on the roof when he fell through a fragile skylight, and suffered multiple broken ribs.
Following the incident, one of his colleagues, having been sent to take photos of the scene, fell through a different skylight. He landed feet-first on a mezzanine floor and escaped without injury.
The firm hired Anthony Massey, trading as Massey Roofing and Building Contractors, to repair the skylights. On 10 April 2007, one of Massey’s employees was carrying out the work without safety equipment when he, too, fell through a skylight. He sustained serious spinal injuries, which has left him paralysed from the waist down.
HSE inspector Martin Heywood described his astonishment that three similar incidents were allowed to happen on three separate occasions. He said: “A man was sent on to a roof without safety equipment, despite two caretakers falling through skylights less than a month earlier.
