A roofing contractor has been fined £10,000 after a 17-year-old mental health patient broke her back and pelvis when she fell over six metres from the roof of the Royal Preston Hospital in Fullwood.
W Hughes and Son Ltd was prosecuted by the HSE after an investigation found the company had failed to prevent access to the scaffolding on the site.
Preston Magistrates’ Court heard that the firm had been hired to replace the flat roof on a single-storey section of the hospital.
It used scaffolding to reach the roof but failed to properly fence off the steps leading up the scaffolding tower.
The 17-year-old, who was staying in the hospital’s Mental Health Unit, was able to climb the scaffolding on 17 October 2013.