What happened
A construction company in London has been fined £60,000 after a worker suffered life-changing injuries when he fell through an unprotected roof light during refurbishment work at a domestic property in Fulham, according to the HSE Media Centre (read the full release here).
The incident happened on 10 November 2023 at a property on Langthorne Street, Fulham. The worker, employed by Lowndes Lumb Construction Limited, was passing materials through an open, unprotected roof light during a property renovation when he fell through the opening onto the concrete floor below.
The HSE investigation found the company had failed to take suitable measures to protect workers from the risk of falling from height. Measures such as scaffolding, guard rails, an internal crash deck or harness systems had not been used. Lowndes Lumb Construction Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, and was fined £60,000 with £6,070 in costs at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 3 August 2026.
HSE Inspector Lydia Edwards said falls from height "accounted for around a quarter of all worker deaths in Great Britain during 2025/26." She added: "This was a wholly avoidable incident that resulted in a worker suffering life-changing injuries."
Why it matters to contractors
This case is a familiar and painful pattern. A roof light is an obvious fragile opening, yet it's the kind of hazard that gets overlooked once work is under way and people are focused on moving materials. The point HSE keeps making is that work at height must be properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out by competent people — and the risk has to be controlled before anyone goes near the edge or the opening.
Domestic refurbishment work carries exactly the same legal duties as a large commercial site. The size of the job doesn't reduce your responsibility under the Work at Height Regulations 2005. If there's a risk that a person or object could fall a distance liable to cause injury, you must act on it.
The practical failure here wasn't a lack of exotic equipment. It was the absence of a simple, planned control over an open roof light — a covering, edge protection, a crash deck below, or a physical barrier to stop anyone falling through.
What to check on your site
- Identify every opening and fragile surface before work starts — roof lights, skylights, hatches, voids and unfinished floors.
- Cover or protect roof lights with a fixed, load-rated cover or guard rails so nobody can step or fall through.
- Plan the sequence of work so materials aren't passed through open holes without protection in place.
- Consider a crash deck or netting below the work area as a collective fall-arrest measure.
- Check your access equipment — scaffolding, MEWPs and towers inspected and fit for the task.
- Brief the crew with a toolbox talk specifically on fragile surfaces and openings before they climb.
- Supervise the work — plans mean nothing if they're abandoned once the job gets busy.
Documents that help you get this right
Getting your paperwork straight won't stop a fall on its own, but it forces you to think through the controls and record who's been briefed. A written working at height risk assessment makes you plan the openings, edge protection and access equipment before the crew arrives.
For roofing and refurbishment crews, the Roofer Risk Assessment Pack covers working at height, fragile roofs, access equipment and roof monitoring in one place. Method statements and permits for high-risk work sit in the RAMS & Permits library.
And because supervision and briefings matter as much as documents, the Toolbox Talks library gives you ready-to-deliver briefings you can run before the crew starts.
Not sure what you need? Our free H&S Document Checker points you to the right templates for the job.
The takeaway
An unprotected roof light took a worker's health and cost this firm £66,070. The controls that would have prevented it — a cover, edge protection, a crash deck — are neither expensive nor complicated. Plan the height work, protect the openings, brief your people, and supervise it. Start with a working at height risk assessment and build from there.