Construction company fined following fall.

A construction company has been sentenced for safety breaches after a sub-contracted joiner was left paralysed from the chest down after a fall on a housing site in Grimsby.

The man, 60, was working for Mager Homes Ltd on a house-build in Tetney, Grimsby, laying joists and flooring on the first floor.

While laying a floorboard he stepped back, missed his footing and fell through a gap between the joists to the ground below suffering broken vertebrae. He is now wheelchair-bound and unlikely to work again.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Mager Homes Ltd failed to provide workers with an adequate working platform.

It was also found the company failed to install any edge protection, or fall prevention equipment, to minimise the risk of falls on-site.

Mager Homes Ltd of Ludborough, Grimsby, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £26,000 with £795 costs.

HSE inspector, Jennifer Elsegood, said after the hearing: “The contractor’s injuries were life-changing and he could have easily been killed. This serious and devastating incident could have been avoided if basic safe guards, such as an appropriate working platform, or measures to mitigate falls, had been in place.”