Roofer awarded £1,495,200 damages after fall left him paralysed

A ROOFER who was left almost totally paralysed in a fall from scaffolding has been awarded £1,495,200 damages.

Ronald Hill, of Balornock, Glasgow, was retiling a roof above shops in Main Street, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, in October 2008 when the accident occurred.

He went to check a delivery of materials but fell ten feet and landed on his head as he climbed down a ladder from the first level of scaffolding to the ground.

Mr Hill sued Norside Limited, of Great Western Road, Glasgow, who had erected the scaffolding, and the Court of Session heard that he had a good safety record in 40 years in the job.

That day, however, he had used the ladder when it was neither tied to the scaffolding nor “footed” by a workmate. He remembered nothing of the fall as a result of his injuries.

Lady Dorrian accepted Mr Hill was not generally a careless workman.

“There is no evidence he habitually used the ladder on his own without tying it off. That he did so on the day in question is without doubt. Why he did so will no doubt remain a mystery,” she said.

The judge said Norside was much more to blame for the fall. She heard that fixed ladder access was used at other sites, but the workers had been forced to devise an ad hoc system of their own for this job. The firm had breached several health and safety regulations, she ruled.

Damages of £1,869,000 would have been awarded to Mr Hill if Norside had been fully liable for the accident, but Lady Dorrian ruled that he was 20 per cent to blame.