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Contractors fined after scaffolding crashed onto vehicles at trading estate
The partners of Scaffolding Systems South West Ltd have been prosecuted after an unsafe scaffold crashed to the ground in strong winds on a trading estate in Exeter.
A large section of scaffolding erected by the firm at a builders’ merchants on 25 March, 2009 fell away from the building, seriously damaging a number of parked cars. The scaffolding had been erected for re-roofing work at the premises.
HSE inspectors told the court that netting had been fixed to the scaffolding which extended almost a metre and a half above the roof of the building. The netting was attached to the inside edge of the scaffold instead of the outside and acted as a sail to the prevailing wind causing the scaffolding to collapse.
Investigators also found there were inadequate stability measures e.g scaffolding ties, to withstand foreseeable wind speeds.
Scaffolding contractors must work to industry standards
Shaun Greenslade, trading as Scaffolding Systems South West Ltd of Warwick Road, Heavitree, Exeter, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 28(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. Terry Foster, also trading as Scaffolding Systems South West Ltd, pleaded guilty to a breach of the same regulation. Foster was fined £8,000 and Shaun Greenslade was fined £5,000. Both were ordered to pay prosecution costs of £2,040.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Principal Inspector, Andrew Kingscott, said:
“The degree of risk and danger to workers and the public was considerable. The standard of the scaffold as installed fell far short of the appropriate level.
This incident could easily have led to human tragedy and should act as a wake-up call to scaffolders to carry their work out to industry standards.”
