Building firm with ‘outdated’ attitude to safety fined after steeplejack fell to his death while restoring church

David Clover, aged 64, was employed by Ecclesiastical Steeplejacks Ltd to carry out restoration work on St Nicholas Church in Kings Norton, Birmingham on 13 November 2020. He had been suspended from the Grade 1 listed building’s steeple in a work positioning seat known as a bosun’s chair when he fell and died.

Photograph: Health and Safety Executive

The bosun’s chair was not supported by a suitable backup system to prevent falls, such as a fall arrest safety harness, said the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which investigated the incident.

Ecclesiastical Steeplejacks, which has since ceased trading, pleaded guilty to contravening Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £60,000 at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 15 January. The judge said that the company had “outdated attitudes” to managing health and safety.

Falls from height are one of the leading causes of work-related deaths and injuries in Great Britain. Recent HSE figures showed that 50 workers were killed by a fall from height in 2023/24. The next biggest killer was being struck by a moving vehicle, followed by being struck by a moving object.