The cleaner was employed by a contractor to clean windows at the college on 4 November 2008. He accessed the roof of the main reception building using a ladder and leaned against the building to clean nearby windows, when he fell.

He spent a week in hospital and was forced to stay off work for months. Even now he can only carry out restricted duties.

The college pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 at Lincoln Magistrates' Court today for failing to conduct a sufficient risk assessment. As well as the fine, the college was also ordered to pay £9,500 towards prosecution costs.

The contractor was prosecuted in October 2009 by HSE after pleading guilty for its role in the incident and was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay costs of £2,948.20.

Following the hearing, an Inspector from the HSE said:

"The cleaner has suffered life-changing injuries as a result of his fall. The college had a legal duty to check its contractors had proper procedures in place but failed to do so.

Every month more than a thousand people suffer serious injuries as a result of slips, trips and falls in the workplace. These shattering injuries can be avoided by sensible and proportionate assessment of the risks, but sadly that was not done in this case.

Employers and organisations that hire contract staff have a joint responsibility to ensure the safety of all staff who work on site, to avoid serious incidents such as this."