A builder has been given a 26-week suspended sentence after workers accessed a scaffold that was not erected properly.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found David Beadle allowed workers to use the scaffold on at least three occasions.
According to an HSE statement, he failed to comply with a prohibition notice it had issued in relation to unsafe working at height at the site on Woodyates Road in south east London.
The HSE said the scaffold was “a potentially dangerous structure at risk of collapse”.
The HSE investigation also found that Beadle, who traded as Beadle the Builders, failed to ensure that “suitable and sufficient measures” were in place to stop a fall from height, with edge protection lacking on the side of the roof, the front elevation of the roof and the flat dormer roof. Safe access was also not provided.
At a hearing at Bexley Magistrates Court on 7 August, Beadle pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
The HSE statement said his 26-week sentence was suspended for 12 months and he was told to complete 150 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £6,043 in costs.
HSE inspector Emma Bitz said: “We will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those who fail to do all that they can to keep workers safe.
“The risks from working at height are well known, as are the control measures required to reduce those risks.”
Falls from height remain the largest cause of workplace deaths in the construction industry. Overall, fatalities in the sector are up 70 per cent in comparison to the period prior to the Covid pandemic.
In April, Construction News investigated how specialist charity No Falls Foundation is working to support survivors of falls from heights.
