Ribble Valley firm prosecuted for unsafe scaffolding

Date:

14 November 2012

The lives of several construction workers were put at risk as they worked on unsafe scaffolding at a farm in the Ribble Valley, a court has heard.

workers on unsafe scaffolding at a farm in the Ribble Valley

The men were spotted working on a barn conversion in Mellor Brow in Mellor on 13 March 2012 during a series of on-the-spot inspections carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) targeting refurbishment and roof work.

The inspector immediately served a Prohibition Notice ordering the men to come down from the scaffolding and their employer, Bailey Developments (NW) Ltd, was prosecuted today (14 November 2012) for failing to take sufficient measures to prevent workers being injured in a fall.

Accington Magistrates’ Court was told the company had been served with a Prohibition Notice in 2009 for previous unsafe work at height at a construction site in Preston.

During the site visit to the farm in Mellor, workers were seen on scaffolding platforms more than five metres above the ground, but there were numerous missing guard rails, deck boards and toe boards to prevent them falling. The scaffolding was also potentially unstable and there were unsafe ladders leaning against it.

Bailey Developments (NW) Ltd, of Deanfield Drive, Clitheroe, was fined £5,000 after admitting breaching the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company was also ordered to pay £2,000 in prosecution costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Anthony Polec said:

"Bailey Developments risked the lives of its employees by failing to ensure the scaffolding they were working on was safe. It was only luck that no one was injured in a fall.

"Work at height is one of the biggest causes of workplace deaths in the UK, with dozens of fatal injuries every year. It’s therefore vital that construction companies do all they can to protect their workers."

The latest figures show that 38 people died as a result of a fall in a workplace in Great Britain in 2010/11, and more than 4,000 suffered a major injury. Information on preventing falls is available at www.hse.gov.uk/falls.

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 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states: "Where work is carried out at height, every employer shall take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury."
3. HSE news releases are available at www.hse.gov.uk/press.

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