He Put a Ladder Across the Gap. The Director Was Watching.

At Telford Magistrates Court this month, a Staffordshire construction company and its director both pleaded guilty after a 26-year-old labourer fell through an unprotected stairwell opening and fractured his skull and his back.

Here is what happened. 5 December 2023. First floor of an apartment block under construction. The stairwell below him is open — no barrier, no cover, nothing. He needs to reach the top corner of the wall. The only thing he can find to bridge the gap is a ladder. He lays it across the opening and climbs up.

He falls through.

The director, Alistair Howells, was working nearby. He saw it. He let it continue.

BHG (Stone) Limited was fined £16,000. Howells was fined £2,000 personally.

£18,000 for a skull fracture and a broken back.

HSE Inspector Sara Andrews: "Had the work been properly planned, this incident would not have happened."

Stairwell openings need physical protection. Not a ladder. Not a sign. Something that stops you falling. If there is nothing there, stop the job.