The director of a roofing company has admitted failing to ensure that a sub-contractor was competent at erecting scaffolding prior to the structure collapsing on to a road in Nottingham.
David Knowles, trading as Toughscaff Contracts Nottingham, had been contracted to re-slate a roof at a house in Montpelier Road, Nottingham. He had subcontracted a roofer, who wishes to remain anonymous, to carry out the work.
On 20 October 2009, the roofer erected a scaffold at the front of the building, despite not being trained in how to assemble scaffolding. The structure had no edge protection, no ties and also had no return at the gable end of the building, which meant that it had no safety measures in place to secure it to the property.
There was also a wooden ladder and an aluminium ladder being rested against the work platform, and neither had a roofing anchor to secure them to the scaffold. When the roofer climbed one of the ladders it put pressure on the scaffold, which created horizontal forces that caused the structure to overturn and fall on to the road. The worker fell more than six metres and suffered multiple fractures to his pelvis. He was unable to return to work for four months owing to his injuries.
HSE inspector Mark Molyneux told SHP that Knowles had failed to ensure the scaffold was erected by a competent person and had not checked to see if it was adequately secured or safe for use. He 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.”
Knowles appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on 14 November and pleaded guilty to breaching s3(1) of the HSWA 1974. He was fined £5000 and ordered to pay £3944 in costs.
In mitigation, Knowles said he had wrongly assumed that the roofer was qualified to erect scaffolding, and he admitted failing to check to see if the contractor was competent to carry out the work. He no longer uses sub-contractors and now employs 12 staff who have all been provided with adequate training for working at height and for erecting scaffolding.
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I’m disgusted! People like this should be fined into recievership. Responsible roofing firms spend thousands ensuring that thier personnel are properly trained and competant to erect scaffolding and edge protecton and protect their employees and the public from harm, only to be undercut in price by someone who doesen’t!
Again an employer gets away with a guilty plea.
The corroborating evidence was unquestionable, yet a plea is allowed.
The Law is an ASS
As a famous man once said, never assume,
it makes an ass of u and me.
It beggards belief that a director of a roofing company should employer a scaffolder who is incompetent to erect a scaffold. This is why we have regulations to ensure amoral employers comply with the law and when the don’t they are held to account.
Surely, the scaffolder should be held accountable as well? He must have been aware that a poorly erected scaffold could be a danger to tradesmen and others.