A COMPANY boss charged with the manslaughter of a worker who fell to his death through a roof told a jury yesterday that the tragedy would never have happened if his staff had followed instructions.

Factory Cover managing director John Elders told Teesside Crown Court that while he was supervising the job there were no problems.

Mr Elders said he told his staff not to work on the roof while he was away from the site at lunchtime, and not to go back up until he returned.

He said that while he was supervising, the team changed seven of the nine roof lights they were contracted to replace at a warehouse in Billingham, Teesside.

He said: "If they had not gone back up when I was not there and when I had told them not to, we would have finished those roof lights safely and successfully."

The court had heard that Stanley Dawson, 50, fell from the roof in May 2000 and died of head injuries.

Mr Elders, 48, and his company deny the manslaughter of Mr Dawson, 50, of Huxley Walk, Hartlepool.

Mr Elders, of The Green, Elwick, near Hartlepool, originally denied two breaches of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act, but yesterday changed his plea to guilty.

The company, of Tofts Farm Industrial Estate, Hartlepool, admits failing to make an adequate risk assessment and failing to provide adequate safety equipment.

The case continues.