Construction firm fined after man left paralysed on site
A father-of-three was left paralysed from the chest down after falling through a ceiling during a house renovation in Derbyshire.
At the time of the accident, Andrew Clifford, 51, was working alone to install first-floor joists in a house on Main Road, Dronfield, on behalf of Paul Freeman, a Mansfield-based company he had been working with for around 20 years.
Clifford was on the floor for approximately six hours before being discovered by a delivery driver.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Paul Freeman failed to ensure the work at height had been properly planned.
As a result, no measures were put in place to prevent falls during the construction of the first floor.
Clifford had not been given proper instruction on how to carry out the work safely and was left to figure it out on his own.
Paul Freeman, based in Synergy House, Acorn Business Park, Commercial Gate, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at Derby Magistrates’ Court on 4 November 2024.
The company was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £6,263 in costs.
HSE inspector Sara Andrews said: “My thoughts remain with Andrew and his family, whose lives have changed dramatically as a result of this preventable incident.
“This case highlights the importance of undertaking a thorough assessment of the risks for all work-at-height activities and the need to ensure that, where work at height cannot be avoided, suitable control measures are implemented to minimise the risk of serious injury. This is even more significant when lone working.”
