AT Lee Properties Limited and LJH Property Limited have been fined a combined total of more than 拢95,000 following a prosecution by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE).
Directors for each firm were also given conditional discharges and ordered to pay prosecution costs.
The prosecution came after a man suffered leg injuries after falling through a roof at Cirteq Ltd in Hayfield Mills, Glusburn in Keighley, on 8th July 2022.
He had been over-cladding an old asbestos cement roof with two other operatives when he stepped onto a fragile rooflight, causing him to fall through and narrowly miss a machine operator working below. However, he landed on machinery and impaled his leg; firefighters were called to rescue him. Despite the horrific circumstances, he sustained relatively minor injuries.
The HSE investigation found that principal contractor AT Lee Properties Limited failed to ensure the works were properly planned, and that neither they nor their subcontractor, LJH Property Limited, had effective preventative and protective measures in place to control the risks associated with roof work. They also failed to ensure that the correct equipment and tools were in place to undertake the work safely.
Subcontractor LJH Property Limited failed to properly plan, supervise, or ensure the work was carried out safely, and its assessment of the risks arising from the work was both unsuitable and insufficient.
AT Lee Properties Limited of Leardene House, Draughton, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined 拢47,783 and ordered to pay 拢2,386 in costs at Leeds Magistrates鈥� Court on 1st October 2025.
Company director Neil Cryer pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of the same Act. He received a two-year conditional discharge and was ordered to pay 拢2,369 in costs.
LJH Property Limited of聽 Moorfield Drive, Baildon, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Act. The company was fined 拢47,818 and ordered to pay 拢2,518 in costs.
Company director Luke Hudson pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of the same Act. He received a two-year conditional discharge and was ordered to pay 拢2,369 in costs.
HSE principal inspector Paul Thompson, who investigated the incident, said: 鈥淧eople working on the roof and those working below within the factory were placed at serious risk. Had the man just a short distance either side of where he was impaled, this could have been a wholly different outcome.
鈥淲ork at height continues to be the leading cause of workplace fatalities, and had this work been planned, managed, and monitored to a sufficient standard by all parties involved, then this incident should not have occurred.鈥�
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