Risk, Health and Safety Information

Scaffold collapse injuries lead to fine

A former scaffolding company director has been fined after two employees were injured in a scaffold collapse.

A 26-year-old man working for Robert Leslie Butler fractured his left ankle and right heel as he jumped six metres from a scaffold tower at student accommodation on Radford Boulevard, Nottingham, on 24 January 2011, as it fell to the ground.

A second employee, 46, was working at a height of around 10 metres. He managed to hang on to the scaffold as it fell. It crashed into the building opposite and he was able to slide down to the ground, suffering minor injuries.

The men, both of whom have asked not to be named, were in the process of dismantling the scaffold.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the scaffold tower had not been erected to industry standards and had not been fitted with adequate ties to secure it to the building.

Robert Leslie Butler, 46, of Owthorpe Close, Top Valley, Nottingham pleaded guilty breaching Regulations 4(1)(c) and 8(b)(ii) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 by virtue of Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Today Nottingham magistrates fined him a total of £3,000 and ordered him to pay costs of £2,000.

After the hearing HSE inspector Kevin Wilson said:

"The two men were extremely luck to survive this incident. There was no safe sequence of work in place to dismantle the tower. The fact the scaffold only had ties at the top meant that as soon as they were removed a collapse was inevitable.

"Work at height should be properly planned and a safe system of work developed. Mr Butler failed his employees in both respects."

At the time of the incident Mr Butler was director of RB & Son Scaffolding Limited. The company has since been dissolved