New Zealand roofing company fined after teenage worker falls through skylight

A New Zealand roofing company was recently ordered to pay a fine of $25,000 and reparations of $40,000 after a 14-year-old boy fell through a roof skylight, suffering multiple fractures.

The company was sentenced at the Napier District Court for failing to ensure the health and safety of workers and allowing someone aged under 15 to carry out construction work.

Following the sentencing, New Zealand’s workplace health and safety regulator, WorkSafe said the incident highlighted the dangers of skylights.

“Working from height is a well-known risk in the construction industry, and there is no excuse for not putting proper protections in place,” says WorkSafe’s national manager of investigations, Hayden Mander.

Read more on the WorkSafe NZ website.