Building firms fined after scaffolder burnt by power cables

Date:

15 October 2009

Release No:

WM408/09

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning builders to be careful when working near overhead power cables after a scaffolder was seriously injured on a site in Worcestershire.

The injured man suffered burns to 52 per cent of his body and had to have his heart re-started, when the metal tube he was carrying came into contact with power lines.

Three separate charges were laid in relation to the incident on 12 November 2007. Manor Homes (Midlands) Ltd, based in Evesham Road, Redditch, Worcestershire yesterday pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £11,985 and ordered to pay £3,000 costs in Redditch Magistrates Court.

G. Wright Scaffolding Ltd, in Shawbank Road, Redditch, was fined £5,985 and ordered to pay £1,500 costs after pleading guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The Director of G. Wright Scaffolding Ltd, Gary Wright of Holyoakes Lane, Redditch, was also fined £5,985 and ordered to pay £1,500 in costs after pleading guilty to section 2(1) by virtue of section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The court heard how three workers arrived at the site at Callow Hill Lane, Redditch to dismantle scaffolding. The injured man Ian Maxwell, 39, from Redditch, was removing a 6 metre guard rail, 4 metres above the ground, when it made contact with the 66,000 volt overhead cable.

The worker was removed from the scaffold platform by firemen and flown to hospital where he was treated for serious burns and other injuries.

The electricity cable was charred at the point of contact, while the galvanised steel tube also had drips of zinc along its length where it had melted.

HSE inspector Tariq Khan said: "Mr Maxwell is very lucky to be alive. He was let down by a system of work that failed to take account of the danger posed by the live overhead cables. Work close to overhead cables should be avoided but where this is unavoidable then a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks needs to be carried out and a safe system of work devised with the assistance of the owners of the electricity cables.

"Electricity can also arc or 'flashover' small distances, so direct contact with electricity cables is not always necessary to result in an incident.

"This case should act as a warning to all those who have to work close to live cables such as those in agriculture, construction and quarrying where scaffold poles, vehicles and cranes are used."

Notes to editors

1. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states: 'It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.'
2. Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states: 'It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.'
3. Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states: 'Where an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.'

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