Roofing business fined for 'unsafe' scaffold modification
Construction
1st October 2008
A roofing firm has been issued with a £2,000 fine after untrained workers modified scaffolding to help them perform their job more easily.
Newcastle-under-Lyme business Steve Emery Roofing was also told to pay an additional £1,160 in court costs.
Contract Journal reports the scaffold modification was spotted by inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) who happened to be in the area.
HSE spokesman Martin Overstall said safety on the site had been jeopardised as there were wide gaps through which workers could have fallen, as well as an absence of edge protection or tow boards on the lower platform.
"Scaffolding boards had been removed from the eaves scaffold platform to make an improvised platform at around 2m to enable the tiles to be handed down from person to person," he said.
In June this year, HSE inspector Niall Miller warned companies they had a legal duty to erect safe scaffolding was to ensure to the wellbeing of the business and its staff members.
