Fine after builder paralysed while working on house

Paul Freeman Ltd admitted failing to properly plan work at height at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court

A builder fears he may not be able to walk his daughters down the aisle after he was left paralysed when he fell through a ceiling.

Andrew Clifford misses the simple things he used to love - the gardening, washing the car and jobs around his family home in Chesterfield, Derbyshire.

Now, he says, he cannot wash or dress himself after he fell two years ago when he was working on a house for Mansfield-based Paul Freeman Ltd.

The company was fined £40,000 on Monday at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court over a health and safety breach in relation to the fall.

Mr Clifford, a father of three, said: "I haven't been upstairs in my house since the accident – my wife and three daughters all sleep upstairs, and I sleep alone downstairs.

"Another thing that really upsets me is the thought of not being able to walk my daughters down the aisle when they get married."

The 51-year-old had been working alone installing first-floor joists during the construction of a house on Main Road, Dronfield, Derbyshire, on 31 October 2022, when he slipped and fell.

He lay face down on the floor for about six hours before he was found by a delivery driver - and worked out how long he lay injured from hourly news bulletins on his radio.

Company failings

"The first thing I recall after my fall was landing on my head," said Mr Clifford.

"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.

"I think I fell between 09:00 and 09:30 and wasn't found until 15:00.

"I can't do anything I used to love doing before. I can't even wash or dress myself now."

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 Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said its investigation found the company failed to ensure that work at height had been properly planned and that no measures had been implemented to prevent falls during the construction of the first floor.

Mr Clifford had also 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, based at Acorn Business Park, Commercial Gate in Mansfield, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court.

The company was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge and costs.