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