Man who plunged to death while replacing skylights in Barnsley did not have any safety devices, inquest hears

Jonathan May, a roofer, was working for Davis Industrial Roofing on Sunday, December 18, 2016 with two of his colleagues on the Carlton Industrial Estate in Barnsley when tragedy struck.

He died at the scene at around 9am after falling about 39ft to the ground and suffering fatal injuries.

One of his colleagues, Luke Davis, whose family runs the business, was one of the first witnesses to testify at an inquest held at Sheffield Coroner's Court today.

He said on the day of the incident, Jonathan, him and his brother, Benjamin Davis, arrived at the site together at 8am and had a 'system' where each of them had a specific task in order to replace skylights.

He said: “We'd done (this) quite a number of times, and basically we had an idea what we were doing.

“John was tasked to remove the bolts and then I'd come put the new light in and take the old light out and Ben would come and fix the roof to make sure it's in place. It's a good system, we've done this quite a lot in the past.”

He said as they worked their way up the roof and as John was working on the bolts, he heard a 'cracking noise'.

Luke said: “I was following him from behind, then we heard a noise like, a cracking noise. My brother, Ben shouted John's name at which point I turned to look and I couldn't see John.

“Then my brother ran down and I followed my brother to see if I could see John and shouting his name and obviously there'd been a hole a in the skylight. We'd been shouting his name but no response.”

System changed after incident

He said they both then rushed down and got permission to gain access through a side door, and called 999 where they were asked to check for a pulse.

“We went through the side door where John had fallen and we found him, laying on his side,” he said.

He then said that they had only used crawling boards and a scissor lift and there had been no equipment safety devices present that day such as harnesses or ropes.

Asked as to why there was no harness attached, he said there was no way to connect the harness then.

He said both him and Benjamin, who had obtained a certificate from the Construction Skills Certification Scheme, started working at the company at a young age and ‘learned on the job’, when asked if they had any training.

Director of the company, Melvyn Davis who also testified at the inquest, said he has now changed the system where skylights can now be installed from inside.

He said: “We didn’t know we could do it then.”

Both John’s wife, Louise and son Lucas were present and Davis Industrial Roofing was represented by a solicitor.

The inquest resumes tomorrow.

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