title: "Construction firm fined £42,200 after teenager falls to death through ventilation shaft covered by plasterboard" slug: jerram-falkus-hse-fine-working-at-height-2026 date: 2026-03-29 sector: construction tags: [HSE, construction, working-at-height, fine, safety, prosecution, 2026] description: On 18 March 2026, Jerram Falkus Construction was fined £42,200 after 19-year-old Renols Lleshi fell six floors through a ventilation shaft. The shaft was covered by plasterboard. Routine inspections hadn't reached the roof garden. This is a universal construction risk.

Construction firm fined £42,200 after teenager falls to death through ventilation shaft covered by plasterboard

On 18 March 2026, Jerram Falkus Construction was sentenced for the death of 19-year-old Renols Lleshi at the Ark Soane Academy building site in London.

Renols fell six floors through a ventilation shaft that had been covered by a sheet of plasterboard and roofing foam. The cover was considered adequate. The roof garden area where the shaft was located wasn't part of the site's routine inspection route.

The fine: £42,200.

The sentence came almost two years after his death. He was 19.

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What happened

Jerram Falkus Construction was undertaking refurbishment work at Ark Soane Academy when Renols Lleshi, a 19-year-old labourer, fell through the ventilation shaft.

The shaft had been covered by plasterboard and expanding roofing foam — materials that appeared solid from above but couldn't bear weight. This kind of cover doesn't meet the standard required under the Work at Height Regulations 2005, which require that any opening or fragile surface at height is either securely covered with something that can bear loads, or guarded with barriers.

The investigation found that routine site safety inspections did not extend to the roof garden area where the shaft was located. It was, in effect, an unmonitored zone — out of the scope of the inspection, out of sight, and therefore assumed safe.

Until it wasn't.

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Why this matters for your firm

Work at Height regulations are the #1 source of HSE construction prosecutions in 2026.

And the lesson from this case isn't "don't leave ventilation shafts uncovered." The lesson is more uncomfortable than that:

Your inspection regime might not cover everywhere your workers go.

Most construction sites have H&S protocols. Most firms have risk assessments. Most site managers do walkabouts. But those protocols, assessments, and walkabouts typically cover the main working areas — the areas where work is planned and scheduled.

What about the areas workers pass through? The access routes? The areas that aren't on the work schedule but are physically accessible? The roof garden that's technically in scope but hasn't been officially designated as a work area?

Jerram Falkus's routine inspections didn't cover the roof garden area. That's how a 19-year-old fell through a hole covered by plasterboard.

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The universal risk: any site with roof access, scaffolding, or refurbishment

This isn't a freak accident in an unusual sector. The risk profile applies to:

• Any refurbishment project with partial roof access
• Any site with scaffolding near rooflines or elevated areas
• Any project involving dismantling, stripping, or repurposing existing roof structures
• Any site where access routes pass through unfinished or partially covered areas

If your workers — including labourers, apprentices, or subcontractors — can physically access an area, your Work at Height assessment needs to cover it.

The Regulations are explicit: the duty holder must ensure that no work is done at height where it is reasonably practicable to do the work at a lower level, and that where work at height cannot be avoided, suitable equipment is used and the area is safe.

"We didn't think anyone would go up there" is not a defence.

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HSE is watching construction closely in 2026

The Jerram Falkus case is one of several construction prosecutions in the first quarter of 2026. Earlier this month, Sohan Group was fined £74,900 for CDM failures and illegal asbestos clearance at a Birmingham site.

HSE's construction enforcement team has been active. And with the newly established Fair Work Agency launching on 7 April — with 200% penalty powers on employment law violations — the regulatory environment for construction firms in spring 2026 is the strictest it's been in years.

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Three actions for construction firms this week

1. Walk every part of your site — especially areas not in routine inspection routes The roof garden wasn't on the inspection list. That's the gap. Book a full-site walkthrough today that covers every physically accessible area, not just planned work zones.

2. Review your Work at Height assessment for every opening, shaft, or fragile surface Anything that looks solid but isn't — skylights, covered shafts, plasterboard caps, foam-filled gaps — should be risk assessed and either guarded or prohibited to access.

3. Make sure your induction covers where NOT to go New workers and labourers often don't know the full extent of site hazards. A 19-year-old on their first months on site may not know that a plasterboard-covered opening at rooftop level is a death trap. Make it explicit.

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Renols Lleshi was 19 years old. Construction fatalities are not statistics. They are people.