Prison Sentence for Unsafe Roofwork
February 2021

A roofing contractor has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months and 200 hours unpaid work for allowing unsafe roofwork to continue despite being issued with a prohibition notice.

Workers were seen working on the roof of a domestic two storey house without any form of protection including edge protection. A prohibition notice was issued which prevented further roofwork to be carried out until control measures were put in place to protect workers. The contractor chose to ignore this notice and carried on working.

An HSE investigation found that the contractor continued to allow workers to be exposed to a risk of falling from the roof, which could have resulted in a fatality or major injury.

Speaking after the case the HSE principal inspector said “This was a serious incident and it is fortunate nobody was injured as a result of it. There are well known standards in the construction industry for controlling risks from falls from height. Even when the duty holder was served a prohibition notice to stop the activity they failed to take the appropriate action.”

Easi-Dec Roofline for Safe Roofwork

In cases such as this when work is being carried out at the roofline level, our Roofline System Access Platform provides a continuous, fully guarded working platform which complies with the edge protection requirements of EN13374. Roofline allows work to be carried out quickly and safely as the system can be erected within 30 minutes and can easily span obstacles such as porches and conservatories, making it a cost effective alternative to scaffolding.

Click here for further information on Roofline and to watch our assembly video showing how quick and easy it is to assemble the access platform.

For more information on our Roofline Access Platform, or any of our safe access platforms, call our product experts on 01767 691812 or use our online contact form.