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W G Carter Limited, an Oxfordshire, England-based construction company, was fined 120,000 British pounds ($159,000) and ordered to pay £5,247 in costs after a carpenter died in a fall from the first floor while working on a home in 2022.
The company pleaded guilty Sept. 24 at Bristol Magistrates Court to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
The Health and Safety Executive and Gloucestershire Police found the work had not been properly planned or supervised. Large sections of flooring had been stripped, leaving open gaps between joists, and some joists were missing or unsecured while other workers kept removing floorboards.
The worker fell and landed on the concrete floor below and died in hospital the next day. HSE issued a prohibition notice halting work at height, and the company has since switched to installing joists from below and blocking access to the first floor.

Lexington, Ala., police chief Agustin Hendershot was suspended on Sept. 16 after suing the department and the town over a workers’ compensation dispute, Mayor Russell Haddock confirmed. TJ Whitehorn is acting police chief.
According to court filings, Hendershot was injured in September 2024, at work when a telephone line snapped and hit him, causing physical injuries to several body parts as well as psychological injuries.
The lawsuit says he was temporarily totally disabled and has experienced permanent partial or permanent total disability under the Alabama Workers’ Compensation Act. It also says he has incurred medical bills and will continue to do so, though his average weekly wage was not disclosed.
Haddock said other factors contributed to the suspension but did not say what they were.

Louisiana’s Second Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed a ruling that Rae Rodriguez forfeited her workers’ compensation benefits by giving untruthful answers about her medical history on two employer questionnaires.
Before Willis-Knighton Health System hired her in September 2022, Rodriguez answered “No” on both questionnaires, completed in September 2022 and June 2024, when asked if she had ever had an on-the-job accident and if a doctor had recommended an uncompleted surgery. She had been hurt at work in July 2018 and was told by a neurosurgeon that she would likely benefit from a neck fusion. The questionnaires warned that untruthful answers could cost her all benefits.
The court found the work-injury question was not vague, noting Rodriguez admitted on cross-examination that she should have answered yes, and treated the surgeon’s statement as a surgical recommendation. It held Willis-Knighton was prejudiced because she now seeks benefits for a neck injury, and a truthful answer would have let the employer establish a permanent partial disability and seek second injury fund reimbursement.

Hawks Quindel, S.C., a Madison, Wis., law firm, is warning injured workers about a scam in which fraudsters invite people with open workers’ compensation claims to fake online hearings, tell them they won an award and demand a fee before the money is released.
DWD says the scammers send emails from official-sounding groups such as the “Workers’ Compensation Board,” often from “.org” addresses like @workcompcourt.org, inviting workers to hearings on WhatsApp, Zoom or Microsoft Teams. People play the roles of a judge, a bailiff and attorneys. Some victims are also asked for bank information, Social Security numbers or gift cards, and the scheme has mainly targeted Spanish-speaking workers.
Workers who get a suspicious message should not send money or share financial information, should save copies of the message and should call their lawyer. They can also check with a DWD workers’ compensation specialist at (608) 266-1340 or contact Wisconsin’s Consumer Protection Hotline at (800) 422-7128.

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