A FARMER has been fined £3,000 for safety failings after his friend broke his back in a fall while helping him out.

Leonard Laxton, 64, was seriously injured when he fell around four metres through a barn roof at New Acres Farm, South Moor, Stanley, County Durham, on July 19, 2011.

Consett Magistrates’ Court heard today (Tuesday May 28) that Mr Laxton, also of South Moor, was helping 50-year-old David Barron, who owned the farm, as a favour.

The pair were removing roof sheets and carrying them across the roof to the edge, using two narrow scaffold boards.

Jonathan Wills, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, said: “The two men were effectively walking a tightrope.

“Mr Barron failed to put suitable measures in place to prevent or reduce the risk to both himself and Mr Laxton from falling through or from the barn roof.

“It is possible death could well have been the consequence of Mr Laxton’s fall.

“The risk of sustaining serious injuries could have been dramatically reduced had Mr Barron carried out the work from a mobile platform beneath the roof, or if he had arranged for nets or other equally effective fall protection to be positioned beneath the areas where both he and Mr Laxton had been working.”

During the work Mr Laxton either stepped or fell from a scaffolding board onto the roof, which collapsed beneath him.

He broke his back in two places as well as breaking some ribs and suffering bruising to his brain after fracturing his skull.

He spent five weeks in hospital but is said to have made a good recovery.

Mr Wills added: “Deaths in agriculture are often caused by fragile roofs and advice on precautions to prevent or reduce the risk from falls when working at height and working on fragile material is well publicised.”

Barron, of New Acres Farm, was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £4,000 in costs after pleading guilty to one charge of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Luisa Lister, mitigating, said: “The defendant has asked me to express his sorrow and regret for this accident.

“He is committed to his health and safety obligations and takes his responsibility very seriously.”