Work at Height Prosecutions, fatal fall from scaffold

Work at height prosecutions

The co-directors of a former London scaffolding firm have faced work at height prosecutions after a trainee worker fell to his death from a poorly constructed scaffold in Westminster. The trainee (SH), who was aged twenty, sustained multiple head injuries in the six-metre fall at Whitehall Place on 24 April 2008. He died in hospital the following day.

This is another example of the long list of work at height prosecutions. AG and JB were responsible for the scaffold and for the young worker’s safety. The pair were sentenced (Southwark Crown Court) after an investigation by the HSE found serious failings with the structure, and with their management of the work taking place on it. The court heard that SH was working as a trainee scaffolder for AGS Ltd (which went into liquidation but was owned by AG and JB).

SH fell backwards through a hole in the scaffold as he was dragging a ladder beam backwards to pass to a workmate.

HSE inspectors established that there was nothing in place to prevent or mitigate the fall, such as a guardrail or safety harness. They also found the trainee was inadequately supervised and had received no formal training for working safely at height. This is a common thread in many work at height prosecutions.

AG was fined a total £5,000 and ordered to pay £1,000 towards prosecution costs after being found guilty of two separate breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. He was declared bankrupt in 2010 and was deemed as having no disposable or future income in order to pay a higher penalty. JB was also fined a total of £5,000 and told to pay £1,000 towards costs for being found guilty of the same breaches. He too is bankrupt with limited means.

Summing up at Southwark Crown Court Judge Taylor said both AG and JB were “equally culpable in respect to this incident” and that the sentence imposed was “not a measure of the life of SH”.

After sentencing, HSE inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers commented:

Work at height on scaffolds is inherently fraught with risk, and it is vital that scaffolds are properly erected, adequately safeguarded and that all work is carefully controlled, managed and supervised. That clearly didn’t happen here and SH was tragically killed as a result.

It is important we secured justice in bringing this case to court, and we will continue to prosecute when clear safety failings are identified. As the offences here relate to 2008, the Judge was unable to use the current sentencing powers, which include possible imprisonment.

There are an alarming number of work at height prosecutions – most of these are avoidable. Talk to us if you need to know more about keeping your employees and your company safe.