A ROOFER fell 40ft to his death following “inadequate” planning and site supervision, an inquest has heard.

Daniel Hollington, 21, plummeted to his death after falling through the skylight of a warehouse.

He died of serious head injuries.

A jury at the three-day inquest heard Mr Hollington, of Digby Road, Corringham, had been sub-contracted by roofing company SR Rich, based in Hurricane Way, Wickford, to replace about 300 skylights.

Mr Hollington was working at the warehouse in the Round Spinney industrial estate, in Northampton, without any safety netting and without plywood covering the fragile skylights.

It was when Mr Hollington stepped on to one of the skylights that he fell on to the concrete below, dying from his injuries, on October 30, 2007.

During the inquest, held in Northamptonshire, the jury was told a method statement, detailing what the workers were employed to do, made no mention of covering skylights with plywood to prevent falls.

Building site supervisors were also criticised for failing to stop the roofers from working in a dangerous way.

Jurors also found there was a “failure to provide an adequate safety system” to stop falls and “this failure was the result of the preparation of an inadequate method statement and inadequate site supervision”.

Tom Osborne, assistant deputy coroner for Northamptonshire, said he would write to the Health and Safety Executive and the National Federation of Roofing Contractors to recommend introducing changes to roofing standards.

Speaking to Mr Hollington’s family, Mr Osborne said: “To Mrs Hollington and the family, can I pass on my own personal condolences? There can never be any consolation to a mother losing a son, whatever the age.

“But if there is just a small consolation, one would hope that by holding this inquest, at least at some stage someone is going to take very seriously the problem of roofers working on roofs with roof lights that are very fragile.”