Prosecutions

The 48-year-old, from Nottingham, fell six metres and fractured his pelvis in four places after scaffolding built on behalf of the director of the scaffolding company collapsed at a house in Nottingham, on 20 October 2009. The roofing contractor was off work for four months.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the scaffolding had not been built by a competent scaffolder, was not erected to a standard configuration and had not been tied correctly.

The director of the company was prosecuted for failing to ensure that people not in his employment were not exposed to risks to their health and safety.

After the hearing a HSE inspector 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 the director 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."

The director pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court today. He was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £3,944 costs.