Firm fined for scaffolding fall
18/08/2010
A steeplejack company based in Stoke-on-Trent has been fined £8,000 after one of its workers fell from scaffolding, suffering injuries that forced him to spend four months in plaster.
Kevin Ford was working for Rafferty Chimneys Engineering at a site in Tunstall when he fell 1.5m to the ground, seriously injuring his heel.
The company admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and was also ordered to pay £5,000 costs.
Newcastle-under-Lyme magistrates were told how on March 4, 2009, the firm were inspecting four 20m tall steel chimneys at Churchill China (UK) Ltd pottery business. A tower scaffold was used to gain access to the eves of the roof.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) probe found that the tower's guard rail was too low, it did not use the right boards and no toe boards were in place.
Mr Ford fell when he was dismantling the tower scaffold at the end of the job. He had lowered a board down from the upper level when he slipped and fell, suffering a serious fracture to the heel of his left foot. He needed pins inserted into the bone and spent 16 weeks in plaster.
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