A construction company has been fined more than £40,000 after a 19-year-old labourer died in a fall at a building site in Acton.
Renols Lleshi was helping to dismantle scaffolding on the 12th-floor roof garden of a block of flats being built at the Ark Soane Academy site in Mill Hill Road on 5 July 2023. He died after falling down a ventilation shaft when its covering gave way beneath him.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) concluded the shaft had been covered with plasterboard and roofing foam, which was not strong enough to support a person’s weight.
Safety inspectors identified a number of failures in site management, including inadequate planning and supervision of work at height, as well as insufficient risk assessments. Routine site inspections had not covered the roof garden area where the shaft was located, meaning the hazard went unnoticed.
Jerram Falkus Construction Limited pleaded guilty to breaching the Work at Height Regulations. The company was fined £42,200 and ordered to pay a £2,000 surcharge and £5,000 in costs at City of London Magistrates’ Court last week (18 March 2026). The court heard the 140-year-old firm had also entered administration on 17 February 2026.
In a statement, Lleshi’s father said: “My family and I are devastated by the loss of Renols. He was just 19 years old with his whole life ahead of him. His death was entirely avoidable and no family should have to go through this pain.”
Natalie Prince, an HSE inspector, said: “Falls from height remain one of the leading causes of workplace fatalities. This was a wholly avoidable incident.”
