A construction company has been fined £33,500 after a worker died from falling through an unprotected skylight opening at a domestic property in Farnborough
Skyladder Construction Limited had been constructing a single-storey extension with a flat roof when, on the evening of 20 July 2022, heavy rain prompted the company director and an employee to return to the site at around 11pm to cover the unfinished roof with a blue plastic tarpaulin, secured with logs.
Bhakta Rai accompanied the employee to the site and went onto the roof to help. He fell approximately 2.5 metres through a hole left for a skylight, landing on the concrete floor below.
Mr Rai was lifted back through the opening, carried across the roof and taken down a ladder. No ambulance was called, and he was transported to hospital in a van. He died a few days later from severe injuries including a spinal fracture, fractured skull and suspected brain bleed.
The company failed to implement basic fall-prevention measures, a HSE investigation found
An HSE investigation found that Skyladder Construction Limited had failed to implement basic fall-prevention measures. There was no edge protection on the building and no guarding around the skylight openings, nor any measures to reduce the distance or impact of a fall.
The company also failed to respond to a statutory request for information issued by HSE under Section 20 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974—an offence in itself.
Skyladder Construction Limited, of 8 Harbour Close, Farnborough, GU14 8HT, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and Section 33(1)(e) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
At Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court on 31 October 2025, the company was fined £33,500, ordered to pay £8,472 in costs, and a £2,000 victim surcharge.
Following the hearing, HSE Inspector Jenny Morris said: “Falls when working at height remain the most common kind of workplace fatality, accounting for around a quarter of all worker deaths. In this case, this was a wholly avoidable incident — Mr Rai died in a fall which should never have been able to happen.”
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