Farmer 'thankful to be alive' after falling through roof in workplace accident

More than 80 people have died and over 1,800 people have suffered major injuries in workplace accidents across Northern Ireland during the last five years.

The majority of the deaths were as a result of falls from a height, followed by machinery related incidents.

It comes as farmer Richard Spence has been raising awareness about the dangers of working at heights, after a workplace fall left him with a brain injury.

"I would say to anyone who is thinking of taking a risk like that during their working day, stop and really think about it," he said.

Most of the workplace accidents occurred in the construction and agricultural industries.

The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) said that while the figures were "shocking", most workplace accidents were preventable.

In 2024 Spence had been working at his family farm in County Tyrone when he fell through the roof of a cow shed.

"There were holes in the roof, so I'd went up to fix them, and the roof just gave way and I fell down and hit a gate below," he said.

Spence broke a number of ribs as well as bones in his back.

He would also later be diagnosed with an acquired brain injury as a result of head injuries sustained from the fall.

The farmer from Ballymagorry would spend months in hospital and believes he is lucky to be alive.

He said: "I'm just thankful to be here to be honest, but I've had a lot of memory loss since the accident, I don't remember the week before it or the two to three weeks after it.

"I will always love farming, but I'm just not as active as I used to be, I get really tired and fatigued, and it's not just manual work, even when I talk for too long it can catch up on me."

Spence says he has learnt a lot from his experience.

"If you get or hurt or worse, it's not just you that's impacted, it is your whole family and friends so just take a minute, and don't take any risks."

Spence credits the paramedics who arrived on scene and the air ambulance crew who transferred him to hospital, with saving his life.

The Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) team in Northern Ireland is a joint partnership between the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) and the charity Air Ambulance Northern Ireland.

In Northern Ireland around approximately 10% of calls to the air ambulance relate to workplace accidents - that's an average of 1-2 calls per week.

Glenn O'Rorke is Operational Lead Paramedic for the HEMs team.

He said: "When it comes to workplace accidents calls, they can come from a wide range of places, from a small garage to a large industrial factory.

"We see a lot of falls and machinery related injuries, and whenever we arrive to a workplace accident it's not just the injured person you're thinking about, it's also their colleagues who have witnessed it and sometimes had to do first aid."

O'Rorke believes it's important to raise awareness around the risks associated with workplace accidents.

He added: "When people get up in the morning and get ready for work, nobody ever thinks or imagines they'll be involved in an accident that day, but the figures show just how often it is happening.

"It's a very stressful situation for everyone involved, but we have highly trained paramedics and teams across the emergency service who are equipped to deal with it as quickly and as safely as possible."

The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) regulates workplace safety.

In response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request it confirmed that 81 people had died in workplace incidents in Northern Ireland since 2020.

Fermanagh and Omagh Council area had the highest number of workplace deaths (15), followed by Antrim and Newtownabbey (12), Mid Ulster (10) and Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon council areas (10).

The majority of the incidents were connected to the agricultural and construction industries.

Sean Keogh is acting deputy chief executive for HSENI.

"No one should go to work to die, behind these figures are real people and families lives' changed forever, there's no job so urgent that it can't be done safely," he said.

He added: "Agriculture and construction tend to be high risk industries because you can go from working at heights, with machinery, to working with livestock and slurry, but these risks can be controlled.

"Our advice is always to plan your work, use the right protections, work to safe procedures, for example when at a height have scaffolding in place, when using machinery make sure its inspected and you're trained to use it."

FoI figures show that since 2020, there were more than 1,800 major workplace injuries in Northern Ireland.

Keogh said that many workplace accidents were preventable.

He said: "The injury figures are shocking, and the tragedy is that workplace accidents can be identified and controlled.

"Planning is essential, and we would urge employers to investigate all accidents and mistakes, because a near miss today could be a fatality tomorrow."

The HSENI can carry out workplace inspections and if significant risks or failings are found, HSENI Inspectors may take enforcement and legal action.

Figures obtained by BBC News NI show there has been £3.2m paid out in fines as a result of legal cases taken by HSENI against 83 people since 2019.

HSENI recently launched its latest inspection programme.

Until the end of March 2027, HSENI inspectors will specifically look at the controls that employers have in place to manage risks associated with slips, trips and falls.

Inspectors will also provide information and advice to employers on how these risks can be reduced.