Suspended Sentence for Famer after Fatal Rooflight Fall

A FARMER has received a suspended prison sentence after a worker fell through a rooflight to his death.

Phillip France died after falling from the roof of a cow shed at Tickner Bros in Hampshire.

The self-employed labourer was dismantling the cow shed with two other workers when he fell through a rooflight, landing on the concrete floor below on 7 June 2021. He died from his injuries six days later on 13 June 2021.

The team of workers had been working under the supervision of Philip Tickner.

Fatal Rooflight Fall

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Hampshire Constabulary found Philip Tickner failed to put arrangements in place to either avoid working at height, prevent a fall or mitigate the consequences of a fall. None of the team of workers were competent enough to work at height as they lacked the understanding of the risks and the associated controls to manage the risks while working at height.

The joint investigation found Phillip France had been removing bolt heads from the roof panels with his two colleagues who were walking along the roof with the removed panels, before loading them onto a telehandler. Phillip’s colleagues largely continued this working practice the day after the 57-year-old fell.

Suspended Prison Sentence

Philip Tickner, of Upper Lanham, Old Alresford, Alresford, Hampshire, pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations. He was handed a six-month custodial sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to pay £2,000 in costs at Winchester Crown Court on 18 October 2024.

HSE Inspector Nicola Pinckney said: “This was a tragic incident that could so easily have been avoided. Readily available work at height equipment, and well-known safe systems of work could have been created and implemented, using workers who were trained and competent to work at height, none of which happened in this case.

“I hope this case serves as an example and a reminder to others in the industry of the deadly risks they often undertake and how they should be approached.”

HSE guidance on working at height can be found here.

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