A FATHER has been questioned by Government inspectors for failing to carry out safety procedures which led to his own son having an accident, a court heard last week.

Colin Dawson, of Stanley, suffered severe head injuries after falling from a roof at his work at a caravan manufacturers.

The Explorer Group caravan manufacturers based at Delves Lane, near Consett, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a safe system of work and was fined £3,000 by Consett magistrates.

Mr Dawson, 27, a joiner, suffered concussion and disorientation after falling eight feet from the roof of a prefabricated building on December 28, 2000. But he has since returned to work at the firm he has been with since 1993.

The Health and Safety Executive, who brought charges against the firm, talked to Mr Dawson's father Malcolm, who was a safety manager at the firm on the day of the accident, the court heard.

The company agreed that it had failed to provide safe ladders or a platform on the day and had not examined safety issues properly on the day.

But solicitor Jonathan Dunkley defended the Explorer Group in court stating that it had never been before the courts previously.

He added that the company had conducted its own thorough investigation, that the accident had occurred at a time when it was relocating to new premises and that the project manager ultimately in charge of safety at the time was no longer with the firm.

He added: "It is not an exaggeration to say that there was devastation about this at the firm."