A Bradford man has been given a suspended prison sentence after an employee sustained life-threatening injuries when he fell over 30-feet through a fragile roof.
Fazal Subkhan was given the nine-month sentence (suspended for two years) after pleading guilty to health and safety breaches after worker Uzaifa Khan suffered a number of significant injuries including a broken hip and pelvis after falling through a roof of Unit C in Shipley he was working on and landing on pallets 36ft below on 25 March 2020. His other injuries included broken ribs, a partially collapsed lung, a shattered left wrist and a broken left elbow.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Mr Subkhan had made previous repairs to the roof at the site but returned to undertake further work. No risk assessment was undertaken for working on the fragile roof. Safe access to the roof, and the risk of falling through or from the roof were not considered and no controls of any sort were put in place.
He pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (2) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and must complete 150 hours unpaid work and pay £2,500 in costs in addition to the suspended prison sentence.
HSE inspector Chris Tilley said: “Falls through fragile roofs and fragile roof lights cause death and serious injury. They account for almost a fifth of all the fatal accidents which result from a fall from height in the construction industry.
“It’s better to avoid working on fragile roofs at all but if you have to, always assess the risk and employ safe control measures like installing perimeter edge protection, the use of staging on the roof surface to spread the loads or install safety nets underneath the roof.”
>>Read more about safely working at height here.
