Unsafe scaffolding leads to prosecution and fine

An eagle-eyed safety inspector was lied to after he stopped to investigate unsafe scaffolding he was driving past, a court heard.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Steve Woods was driving past the Coach & Horses Inn in Billinghay, Lincolnshire, on 11 June 2008 when he saw three employees of Bracknell Roofing Co Ltd using an unsafe tower scaffold to repair a flat roof.

The roof and tower scaffold had no edge protection, inadequate boarding which was not properly attached and it was propped up on bricks and blocks. A manager had visited the site and allowed work to continue only 45 minutes before Mr Woods arrived and found dangerous safety defects.

Bracknell Roofing Co Ltd, of Suffolk Way, Sevenoaks, Kent, was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £2572.80 by Skegness Magistrates on 25th November 2009 after pleading guilty to breaching Regulations 4(1) and 8b(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

Steve Woods said: This inadequate tower scaffold was owned by Bracknell Roofing and had been taken out of their depot just for this job. The three men on site refused to give me the name of the company and also gave false names and contact details.

Falls from height remain the most common kind of workplace fatality. The men were at risk of serious injury either from falling off the roof or the tower scaffold. The case shows the need for companies to ensure that work at height is properly planned and supervised and that equipment provided is suitable and maintained in good condition.

In this case the equipment that should have been used was easily available and could have been provided by the company if adequate planning of the work had been undertaken. The unsafe working practice should have been stopped by the company manager when he visited site.

Find out more about Working at Heights