Pair fined £13,000 for scaffolding collapse at Exeter trading estate

Date:

16 November 2011

Partners in a company that erected unsafe scaffolding, which crashed to the ground in strong winds, were sentenced today (Weds 16 November).

Terrence Foster, of Scaffolding Systems South West, was fined £8,000 and his partner in the business, Shaun Greenslade, was fined £5,000. Both were ordered to pay costs of £2,040 each in the case brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at Exeter Magistrates.

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 to allow re-roofing to take place at the premises.

HSE inspectors told the court that netting had been fixed to the scaffolding but 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.

The investigation also found there were inadequate stability measures on the scaffold to withstand foreseeable wind speeds, such as scaffolding ties.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE 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."

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.

Further information on safe scaffolding can be found on the HSE website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/scaffoldinginfo.htm

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. Regulation 28 (2) of the Construction (Design Management) Regulations 2007 states: Any buttress, temporary support or temporary structure must be of such design and so installed and maintained as to withstand any foreseeable loads which may be imposed on it, and must only be used for the purposes for which it is so designed, installed and maintained.

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News and PR (South West)