J Smith Construction Services Limited handed hefty £80,000 fine after worker plummeted 15ft from fragile skylight
After a sub-contractor plummeted more than 15 feet through a fragile skylight during roof repairs, a construction company has been fined £80,000.
Southampton-based company, J Smith Construction Services Limited, has been ordered to pay costs of £2,630 and given a hefty fine at a hearing at Southampton Magistrates Court on December 4, 2025.
This comes after a 29-year-old sub-contractor sustained multiple fractures following a fall while completing roof repairs to a skylight at The Tanneries Industrial Estate in January 2024.
As a result of his injuries, the contractor was unable to work for months and has not regained full use of one leg.
The construction company started the roof repairs at the Titchfield site in December 2023, but took on extra workers in a bid to speed up the job.
No scaffolding was put up at the site and there were no appropriate measures in place to prevent anyone from falling through the roof.
Despite the serious incident, workers returned to the site the following day without implementing any safety measures.
Joseph Smith, company director, was at the site throughout the work and pleaded guilty to Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, s.37(1).
Smith was handed a three-month prison sentence, which has been suspended for 12 months, and at the same court, J Smith Construction Services Limited pleaded guilty to breaching The Work at Height Regulations 2005, Regulation 6(3), resulting in an £80,000 fine.
A Health and Safety Executive spokesperson said: “These sentences should send a clear message to employers that HSE and the courts take a failure to comply with health and safety legislation extremely seriously.
“Too many workers are injured or killed every year as a result of falls from height during construction work. These incidents can be prevented if reasonably practicable measures such as scaffolding or netting are put in place to protect workers.”