The Irish director of a roofing firm in England has been given a suspended prison sentence at a court in Brighton for putting the lives of his workers at risk.
Jack Avanzo, from Ballyspillane, Killarney in Co Kerry, pleaded guilty to breaches of height regulations under the UK's Health and Safety at Work Act.
He was handed a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and disqualified from being a director for three years.
He was also ordered to pay £1,500 in costs.
The investigation into Avanzo and his company, Weather Master Roofing, found workers were seen operating without any scaffolding or edge protection on the roof of a house on Flint Hill, Dorking, on 21 February 2023.
They were also observed using the lights from their phones and torches while working on the property at night.
This, the Health and Safety Executive said, put them at risk of falling from a height while there were no measures to mitigate a fall, with the likes of harnesses not being used.
The executive subsequently served Weather Master Roofing with an improvement notice on 28 February 2023.
The notice required the company to improve how it planned, carried out, supervised and monitored the work that was taking place on the roof, but it failed to comply.
Weather Master Roofing, of Muswell Hill, Broadway in London, also pleaded guilty to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £4,000.
The company was also ordered to pay £1,500 in costs as well as a victim surcharge of £1,600.
