Scaffold Contractor fined £10,000 plus costs

A scaffold contractor was recently fined £10,000 + costs for working unsafely in the public domain, after their activities were caught on CCTV.

The unsafe work activities included:

• Metal fittings were thrown from a flatbed lorry over the heads of passers-by – as captured by CCTV
• Heavy scaffold poles were hoisted above shoppers without thought to their safety
• Pedestrians were forced to walk into the road to avoid the activity, with no measures in place to protect them from passing vehicles
• The two scaffolds were not built to an approved safe design and were inadequately braced and tied
• They were also poorly configured, with the potential for overloading parts of the structure, and loads could not be transferred safely to the ground

(Source construction enquirer)

LST Comment: This is still a continuing commonly witnessed issue on site by safety advisors which highlights the need for more education and robust safe systems of work to be implemented to deter scaffolders from conducting their activities in this manner both on site but particularly when interaction with the public is possible.