Club fined after worker injured

A worker was off work for half a year after he fell through a roof at Premier League football club Aston Villa’s training ground.

The club was fined £1,350 after one of two contractors from Mechanical Cleansing Services Ltd fell three metres through a fragile rooflight, breaking bones in his heels.

As an old building on the site was being demolished the company had been employed to drain fuel tanks.

The 34-year-old victim was cleaning the tanks and fell through a rooflight when he was heading towards a ladder to get down, Stratford on Avon Magistrates heard.

The club, its contractor and Mechanical Cleansing Services’ director, Damon Roe, all admitted health and safety offences.

HSE inspector Carol Southerd said: “Work at height can be very dangerous if not properly planned and although the victim’s injuries were severe, they could have been much worse.

“If the internal ladder had been used, then this incident would not have happened. A simple conversation with the club was all it would have taken to arrange for the blocked ladder to be cleared.”