Farmer died after falling through skylight, inquest told

A Wexford sheep farmer who suffered fatal injuries after falling through the roof of a shed last year may not have realised he stood on a Perspex skylight because its colour had faded, an inquest has heard.

William Bailey, 44, a married father-of-two from Coolatrindle, Kilmuckridge, Co Wexford, died on 13 March 2025 at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin where he had been airlifted by helicopter the previous day after the accident on his family farm.

The deceased's wife, Annette, told the inquest into her husband’s death at Dublin District Coroner’s Court that she was at home around 1pm on 12 March 2025 when she got a call from her mother-in-law to state that there had been an accident.

She was informed that William had fallen through the roof of a shed on the farm about 500 metres away.

Ms Bailey said she arrived at the scene of the accident about two minutes later to find her husband lying on the ground.

Another labourer, William Goff, was on the phone to the emergency services.

She recalled her husband was moving his head and making a noise of discomfort, while there was a large amount of blood coming from his head and ears.

Ms Bailey said she held his hand and he asked her to squeeze it.

As she was speaking to her husband, she said she could see a broken gap in the roof through which he had fallen.

Ms Bailey said she thought he might have landed on sheep pens that were underneath the hole in the roof because of the position he had been in.

The inquest heard that an ambulance arrived after about 20 minutes and her husband was attended by paramedics.

Ms Bailey said a decision was taken to bring him to Beaumont Hospital by air ambulance because of his injuries.

She described how she followed him to Dublin by car and on arrival at Beaumont was told that her husband would need an operation.

Ms Bailey said he had been brought for surgery the following day around 1pm.

At around 5pm, she was informed by nurses that her husband had lost a lot of blood in theatre and he would not survive the night.

The inquest heard Mr Bailey was formally pronounced dead at 11.32pm.

Farmer 'wasn't great with heights'

In reply to questions from coroner Clare Keane, Ms Bailey said her husband enjoyed perfect health and was happy on the morning of the accident.

She recalled it was a normal day with her husband seeing off their twin sons on the school bus.

Ms Bailey said he had a few odd jobs planned for the day around the farm in advance of the lambing season, including fixing the shed.

She observed it was not something he would normally do as he "wasn’t great with heights".

In evidence, Mr Goff said he had been repairing a patch on the roof with corrugated sheeting and was almost finished the work.

He said Mr Bailey joined him on the roof to see how he was getting on and if he needed help.

"I was telling him I was about done when I heard a crunching sound on the roof," recalled Mr Goff.

He said he wasn’t sure if he saw the farmer fall but he believed he had walked on a Perspex skylight.

Mr Goff said he could see the victim was badly hurt and it looked like he had hit a sheep pen.

An inspector from the Health and Safety Authority, Trevor Ryan-Nesbitt, said there were three Perspex sheets on the roof of the shed whose colour could change.

Mr Ryan-Nesbitt said sometimes such sheets could "blend in with the rest of the stronger material".

He said someone could fall through a roof by walking on such skylights.

The HSA inspector also noted that Mr Bailey had fallen onto a concrete floor.

Although the incident was treated as a workplace accident, Mr Ryan-Nesbitt confirmed that no further action was warranted as a result of the HSA investigation as the deceased had been working on his own farm.

He also pointed out that the HSA has information sheets on its website about working at a height in agriculture including a code of conduct.

In a written deposition, a consultant neurosurgeon at Beaumont, John Caird, said the injured farmer had suffered a severe traumatic brain injury including a fracture of the skull as well as a broken collarbone and leg.

Dr Keane recorded the cause of death as severe cranial cerebral trauma due to a fall from a height.

A jury of six women and one man returned a verdict of accidental death and made no recommendations in the case.