A construction company has been fined tens of thousands after failing to take preventative measures
A worker suffered life-changing injuries when he plunged through a roof light onto concrete at a house in West London. The serious fall happened during refurbishment work on Langthorne Street, Fulham, in November 2023.
The man had been passing materials through an open, unprotected roof light when he plummeted to the hard floor below. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that his employer, Lowndes Lumb Construction Limited, had failed to take suitable measures to protect workers from the risk of falling from height.
Preventive measures such as scaffolding, guardrails, internal crash decks, or harness systems were not in use at the time. On Monday, the construction company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Bosses were fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £6,070 in costs.
HSE Inspector Lydia Edwards said: “Falls from height remain one of the leading causes of workplace death and serious injury. The latest HSE statistics show they accounted for around a quarter of all worker deaths in Great Britain during 2025/26.
“This was a wholly avoidable incident that resulted in a worker suffering life-changing injuries. Had suitable measures been in place to prevent a fall, this incident could have been prevented.
“If you are working at height and think there is a risk that someone or something could fall, you must take action to control that risk.”
Weeks before the Fulham incident, a 19-year-old labourer died after falling down a ventilation shaft on an Acton building site. Renols Lleshi was helping to dismantle scaffolding on the 12th-floor roof garden of a block of flats under construction at the Ark Soane Academy site in Mill Hill Road.
The shaft covering, constructed with one sheet of plasterboard and roofing foam, gave way as he stepped onto it, plunging the teenager down six floors to his death.
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