Scaffolding fell away from a row of terraced houses being demolished in Stoke-on-Trent last year because the structure had not been designed to be covered in sheeting and withstand the additional wind loads, according to a Health & Safety Executive investigation.
The case came to a hearing at Stafford Magistrates Court this week, where main contractor Potteries Demolition and its subcontractor, Jacko’s Scaffolding, were both fined for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
The HSE found the 70m long scaffold had not been built to an appropriate bespoke design and was not sufficiently secured to the houses. On the day of the accident in April 2011, the Met Office also recorded gusts of up to 46mph, which put extra pressure on the sheeted scaffold.
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The site team apparently had a lucky escape after coming down from the scaffolding for a tea break minutes before the scaffold collapsed. But a row of parked cars was damaged and a street lamp destroyed.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Andrew Bowker said: “This incident was caused by a catalogue of serious failings by both companies.
“Potteries Demolition, the principal contractor, failed to effectively coordinate, plan and manage the demolition sequence in order to ensure that the scaffold safety was not compromised. They failed to ensure that the sheeted scaffold was constructed to a suitable bespoke design despite knowing that this was necessary. They failed to inspect the scaffold and removed anchor ties during the demolition sequence ignoring written instructions on the scaffold handover certificate not to do so.
“Jacko’s Scaffolding failed to construct the scaffold to a suitable design despite knowing that this was necessary. They failed to inform Potteries Demolition that the sheeted scaffold they handed over was not adequately tied for the facade demolition to start.”
Potteries Demolition was fined £13,320 with costs of £11,967, while Jacko’s Scaffolding faces a fine of £5,000 plus costs of £2,992.
