An Oxfordshire construction firm has been fined £120,000 after a carpenter died following a fall from the first floor of a refurbishment project.
Richard “Felix” Roper, 59, fell while working for WG Carter Ltd at Manor Barn House in Nether Westcote, Gloucestershire, on 30 August 2022, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said.
He suffered severe head injuries and died in hospital the following day.
According to the HSE, Roper had been replacing damaged floor joists while other workers removed sections of flooring in the same area.
The regulator said large parts of the first-floor structure had been stripped back, leaving open gaps between joists, while some joists were missing or had not been secured.
Roper fell onto the concrete ground floor below, the HSE said.
It added that a joint investigation with Gloucestershire Police found that the work at height had not been properly planned or appropriately supervised, and it was not being carried out safely.
Workers were able to access parts of the first floor where flooring and structural supports had been removed without sufficient measures to prevent falls, the watchdog added.
Other workers were continuing to remove floorboards at the same time, which HSE said increased the risk of a fall.
Following the incident, the HSE served a prohibition notice stopping further work at height until adequate safety measures had been introduced.
The regulator said WG Carter subsequently adopted a safer method of working, with floor joists installed from below using work-at-height equipment and access to the first floor prevented while the work was carried out.
According to the HSE, the contractor pleaded guilty at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on 24 September to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. It was fined £120,000 and ordered to pay £5,247 in costs, it said.
HSE principal inspector James Lucas said: “Had appropriate controls been in place, Felix’s death could have been prevented.”
The latest annual HSE statistics show that falls from height accounted for more than a quarter of workplace deaths in 2025/26.
