Scaffold collapse leads to director fine
The director of a scaffolding company in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, has been charged a total of nearly £9,000 after a roofing contractor was injured.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said a 48-year-old man fell six metres and fractured his pelvis in four places after scaffolding built on behalf of David Knowles' Scaffolding collapsed at a house in Montpelier Road, Nottingham. After the incident on 20 October 2009, the unnamed worker was off work for four months, the agency added.
The HSE said its investigation found the scaffolding had not been built by a competent scaffolder, was not erected to a standard configuration and had not been tied correctly.
Director David Knowles was prosecuted for failing to ensure that employees were not exposed to health and safety risks, the HSE said.
Knowles, 54, of Station Street, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court. He was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £3,944 costs.
After the hearing HSE inspector Mark Molyneux said: "Construction workers’ lives depend on scaffolds. Scaffold businesses must ensure their workers are trained and competent and that scaffolds meet the requirements and are tied correctly.
"If Mr Knowles had ensured the scaffolding had been properly planned and erected and tied by a competent person, this incident would never have happened and a man would not have suffered a painful injury as a result."
