A roofing firm has been sentenced after one of its employees was injured when he fell through the roof at a Stockport school.

Ploughcroft Building Services was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at Reddish Vale Technology College on 14 June 2010.

Trafford Magistrates' Court heard the 24-year-old Chris Buck, from Brighouse in West Yorkshire, was helping to make the roof waterproof when he tripped on some cables and fell through a fragile skylight.

Mr Buck fell 2.6 metres to the concrete floor below at the secondary school on Reddish Vale Road in Stockport. He suffered injuries to his back and neck, and has been unable to return to work.


The court was told that the company had failed to provide a cover or barrier for the skylight, despite being told to do so in a report by a health and safety consultant less than six weeks earlier.

Ploughcroft Building Services, admitted of breaching Regulation 9 (2) (a) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 by failing to prevent the worker falling through the skylight.

The company, of Bullford Garage in Brighouse, was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £10,937 in prosecution costs on 22 July 2011.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Sandra Tomlinson said:"This incident could easily have resulted in one of Ploughcroft's employees being paralysed or even killed. Despite surviving, the injuries he's suffered mean he has lost the confidence to be able to return to work as a roofer.

"There were children walking under the skylight just minutes before he fell through it, so other individuals were also put at risk by Ploughcroft's actions."

(CD)