Antonio Rodrigues, 55, had been working as a labourer for Lima Construction Limited on a project to redevelop a former department store on the High Street in New Malden, into a mixture of commercial and residential units.

On 27 July 2022, Rodrigues fell from an external scaffolding platform through an unglazed window void, landing on an internal concrete ground floor more than three metres below.  Although he was taken to hospital he died from his injuries several days later on 1 August.

An HSE investigation found that in one wall, window voids had been created to install glazed ‘Juliet’ doors. But when the doors were delivered it was found some had damaged glazing panels so were not installed.

Although the company recognised that the four unglazed window voids created a risk to workers on the scaffolding platform – falling from height through the voids – it was only in the hours after Rodrigues fell that protective boarding was installed.

The HSE investigation identified it was reasonably practicable for boarding or additional inside scaffolding guard rails to have been installed over the window voids to prevent falls from height as soon as they had been created.

The company had also not ensured that legally required weekly scaffolding inspections had been carried out after 5 July 2022, so the opportunity for identification of the risks posed by the unglazed window voids by a competent scaffolding inspector was lost.

Lima Construction Limited, of New Malden, pleaded guilty to safety breaches and was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £11,347 at Westminster Magistrates Court last week.

HSE inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers said:  “This is a case where a company who generally tried to have good standards of health and safety, failed to react effectively to an unusual situation and there were tragic consequences.

“Falls from height are one of the leading causes of workplace fatalities and major injuries in the UK.  Employers and those in control of any work at height activity should ensure a sensible, pragmatic approach when considering precautions for work at height.”

“As there was no CCTV and nobody witnessed the incident, we will never know exactly what caused Mr Rodrigues to fall. But if the boards added shortly afterwards had been in place, then there would have been no opening for him to fall through in the first place.”