A glass firm was fined £80,000 for health and safety breaches after a worker fell to his death through a roof.
Marius Andrus was carrying out snagging repairs to a roof above the "toughening area" at Pearsons Glass in Kirkdale, on May 22, 2017.
The Romanian, described as "an experienced contractor," crossed the parapet wall onto the "fragile roof" above the processing area of the company, on Maddrell Street.
The 36-year-old plunged down six metres into an unnetted part of the factory.
He sustained serious head injuries and was sadly pronounced dead at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.
Today, at Liverpool Crown Court, the owners of Pearsons Glass were fined £80,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,656.
It was heard how Mr Andrus was completing snagging work on a replacement roof.
The worker had accessed a part of the old roof made of fragile asbestos cement sheets, which gave way.
He fell through the sheets to the ground below sustaining fatal injuries.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the area accessed did not have safety nets fitted and the building occupier failed to take reasonably practicable measures to reduce the risk to those working on the roof.
Pearsons Glass pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, Sections 3.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Andrew McGrory said: “The risks from working on fragile surfaces are well known.
“Businesses have a responsibility to ensure that the contractor they select to undertake any construction work devise safe methods of doing so, which should include providing the necessary information to their workers and ensuring that they are adequately supervised.”
The prosecution of the roofing contractor is ongoing.
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In 2019, a coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.
The court heard that "Mr Andrus was aware that he should not have been on the roof above the processing area and he was also aware that the area below where he fell was unnetted," a jury ruled.
