A York firm that fits solar panels has been prosecuted after an employee fell four metres through the fragile roof of a pig shed at a farm in Cranswick.
The worker, who does not want to be named, had been employed for just two weeks by Solar Fit PV Ltd 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 on a layer of animal waste on the concrete below and escaped severe injury, suffering a radial fracture to his left elbow and bruising to his legs.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on Thursday 9 May prosecuted Solar Fit PV Ltd. An investigation into the incident occurred at Rotsea Carr Farm in Cranswick on 23 July 2012.
York Magistrates’ Court heard that three days earlier Solar Fit had taken measurements and started the installation of 100 solar panels on the roofs of two large pig sheds.
On the morning of 23 July, the farm owner spoke to the firm’s director on site as he was unhappy with the way they had been working on the shed roof. He warned the two roofs were fragile and no work should take place without using crawl boards, which he made available.
HSE found Solar Fit took no action as a result of this advice and both the director and the inexperienced employee carried on working on the roof.
Solar Fit PV Ltd, of Fox Oak Park, Common Road, Dunnington, York, 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.
After the hearing, HSE Inspector Andy Denison said: “This worker was extremely fortunate not to have suffered more severe injuries in a fall of four metres. It could even have proved fatal.”
