Father-of-three Andrew Clifford remained lying face down on the floor for around six hours before he was found by a delivery driver.
Andrew Clifford had been working alone installing first-floor joists during the construction of a house on Main Road in Dronfield. The 51-year-old was carrying out the work on behalf of Paul Freeman Limited, a Mansfield company with which he had worked for around 20 years.
On the morning of 31st October 2022 Mr Clifford slipped and fell from the first floor to the ground below and was left unable to move.
He spent nearly five months in hospital, with the injuries to his spinal cord so serious they left him paralysed from the chest down, with only limited movement in his hands and arms. “The first thing I recall after my fall was landing on my head,” Mr Clifford said. “From that point it was a very strange feeling as from when I landed, I felt no pain and I couldn’t understand why or that I couldn’t get up.
“My radio was on and I judged the time by the news. After an hour, I tried to move again and this carried on for around three hours. Eventually, I realised this was serious and I thought I’d better stay still as I didn’t want to cause further injuries. This wasn’t the type of street where people were walking past and as it started to get dark I was getting really worried.
“When I was found by the delivery driver I heard him shout out, ‘hello, hello, hello’. I think I fell between 9am and 9.30 and wasn’t found until 3pm.”
An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found that Paul Freeman Limited had failed to ensure that work at height was properly planned and, as such, no measures had been implemented to prevent falls during the construction of the first floor. Mr Clifford had not been provided with suitable instruction as to how the work should be carried out and was therefore left to work this out on his own.
Paul Freeman Ltd of Acorn Business Park, Mansfield, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at Derby Magistrates’ Court on 4th November 2024. It was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,263.
HSE inspector Sara Andrews said: “This case highlights the importance of undertaking a thorough assessment of the risks for all work at height activities and the need to ensure that, where work at height cannot be avoided, suitable control measures are implemented to minimise the risk of serious injury. This is even more significant when lone working.”
