Continual use of untrained workers lands boss in jail

The owner of a Rotherham scaffolding firm was sentenced to three months in prison after an untrained employee was seriously injured when he fell six metres from scaffolding.

Sheffield Crown Court, sentencing on 23 June, heard that Philip Wolstenholme, owner of A1 Access Scaffolding, failed to comply with an HSE Prohibition Notice served in March 2006 that specifically prohibited him from using untrained workers to erect or dismantle scaffolding.

On 20 January 2007, Scott Mitchell, an inexperienced scaffolder, and a colleague, had been told to take down a scaffold at a house in Sheffield without being given proper training or equipment for the job. “Mr Mitchell began by climbing the outside of the scaffold to the upper lift, as there was no ladder for him to use,” Robert Cooper, the HSE inspector who investigated the case, said. “He pulled down a board 2.2 metres long that was supported only at the ends, and laid it down to span a bay adjacent to where he stood. As he walked out on to the board it snapped, causing him to plummet six metres to the ground.”

Mitchell, who fractured two vertebrae and shattered his right heel, had not been wearing a harness. Since the incident he has had to endure two operations on his back and foot to insert pins and screws, during an almost three-month stay in hospital.

Inspector Cooper said Wolstenholme had “wilfully disregarded” advice given to him by the HSE, as well as the requirements of the Prohibition Notice served on him. “In doing so, he put the safety of his workers at great risk,” he said. He added that Wolstenholme had had “ample opportunity” to train his employees in the time between the notice being served and the incident in January 2007. “As a consequence, they were not aware of the vital safe working practices that are necessary when doing scaffolding work,” he remarked. “The injuries suffered by the employee were very serious and could very easily have been fatal. Employers must train people working for them, particularly in high-risk work.”

Although he accepted responsibility for the incident, Wolstenholme mitigated against his sentence by saying he was in severe financial difficulties, and had family problems. He said he had been misled about matters of training when he bought the scaffolding business from its previous owners.

Wolstenholme had earlier pleaded guilty at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court to breaching s2(1) of HSWA 1974 by failing to ensure his employees’ safety, and to contravening a Prohibition Notice, thus breaching s33(1)(g) of the same Act. Sentence was handed down on the latter offence. No costs were awarded by the judge in the case.

In sentencing, the Recorder of Sheffield said it had been a “blatant breach” of the Prohibition Notice, “doing that which you have been expressly forbidden from doing”. He added: “If these offences are not seen to result in real punishment, then there is little incentive for anyone else to comply with the requirements of health and safety legislation.”