A Leicester construction company has been fined for safety failings after a 19-year-old worker was hurt falling from a roof.
Apprentice joiner Jonathan Hill was working on a housing development in Croft Road, Cosby, fitting wooden batons between roof trusses when he slipped and fell around two and a half metres, landing on first floor boarding.
Mr Hill, of Broughton Astley, suffered a fractured vertebra in the incident on 9 November 2011 and was off work for two months.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found principal contractor Stokes Evans Developments Limited had installed fall mitigation in the form of air bags on the first floor when the roof trusses were initially installed a week before the incident. However, they were removed before the trusses and supporting batons were fully fixed in place and no alternative safety measures were put in place.
The company, of St Peter's Road, Arnesby, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 22(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 for not doing enough to prevent the fall. On 14 June, Leicester magistrates fined the firm £500 and ordered it to pay costs of £850.