Premier League football club Aston Villa has been fined after a worker was badly injured by a fall through a roof during the redevelopment of its training ground.

Two contractors from Mechanical Cleansing Services Ltd were working at the Bodymoor Heath complex near Sutton Coldfield when one of them plunged three metres through a fragile rooflight.

The company had been employed to drain fuel tanks on a roof during demolition of an old building on the site.

Stratford-on-Avon Magistrates heard that the 34-year-old worker was cleaning the tanks and fell through a rooflight as he was heading towards a ladder to get down.

He broke bones in his heels in the three-metre fall and was off work for more than six months.

The club, its contractor and Mechanical Cleansing Services' director, Damon Roe, all admitted health and safety offences.

An internal ladder was blocked so Mr Roe decided to use a ladder against the outside front of the building to access the roof's plant room. However, both he and the football club failed to inform workers of the dangers or how to avoid the risk of falling through the fragile rooflights.
 

Source: HSE