A man in charge of converting an old mill into accommodation has been jailed and his father, the owner of the building, given a suspended prison sentence after a worker fell nearly 8m to his death.

The incident followed an earlier one that was not reported to HSE when a worker fell and broke a leg.

Both men had been working at height without any safety measures in place.

Tameem Shafi, of Clarence Street, Blackburn, was in charge of the project and was sent to prison for 45 weeks for two breaches of regulation 6 (3) of the Work at Height regulations 2005.

Mohammed Shafi Karbhari, his father, also of Clarence Street, Blackburn, owned the mill. He was sentenced to 24 weeks imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered to pay £20,000 towards prosecution costs for breach of Regulation 9 of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007.

Another member of the same family, Umar Shafi, also of Clarence Street, Blackburn, was in charge of the work on the day. He was sentenced to 120 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay £3,900 towards prosecution costs for two breaches of regulation 6 (3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

All three had pleaded guilty to the offences at an earlier hearing. The sentencing took place at Preston Crown Court on 19 May.

The man who died was Ivars Bahmanis, a 55-year-old Lithuanian national living and working in Blackburn. He was involved in building work at the former canal works building at Manner Sutton Street when he fell nearly 8m and died as a result.

During the investigation into the incident by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) it was discovered that another employee, Juris Lesinkis, a Latvian national living and working in Blackburn, had fallen from a height and broken his leg at the same site, although it had not been reported to HSE.

At the sentencing hearing on the 19 May Preston Crown Court heard that Mr Bahmanis was working alone, installing metal brackets for new roof joists when he fell on 29 January 2012. HSE said there was a complete lack of safety measures in place.

The prosecution followed an investigation by HSE that determined the defendants had failed to plan the work at height and employ competent contractors. They had deliberately chosen to save money and were well aware that work was being carried out in an unsafe manner using unskilled workers.

HSE Inspector Allen Shute said: “The dangers of working at height are well known and can be easily and safely managed. It needs to be properly planned and carried out by competent contractors.

“The defendants tried to save money by asking unskilled workers to carry out hazardous work activities around the building. As a result Mr Bahmanis died needlessly in a horrifying incident that could and should have been prevented.

"There had also been a previous incident on site where another worker fell from height and broke his leg, which was never reported to HSE and only came out during the investigation. This should have served as a warning to them.”

There is information about working at height safely on the HSE website – www.hse.gov.uk/work-at-height/index.htm