A shopfitting company has been fined after an employee suffered multiple fractures after falling fifteen feet from scaffolding.
Manchester Magistrates Court heard how, an employee of TA Knox Shopfitters Ltd was working from a tower scaffold at the front of the Footasylum Store in the Trafford Centre, Manchester, when the scaffold moved throwing him off balance. He fell backwards against the safety rail of the scaffold, which gave way and he fell fifteen feet to the ground. The employee suffered ten fractured ribs, a fractured shoulder and a collapsed lung.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the safety rail had not been fixed in place correctly, causing it to give way when the employee fell against it. It also found that the tower scaffold had not been erected by somebody with the appropriate skills, knowledge and training. If the edge protection been suitable and sufficient and the tower constructed by somebody competent to erect tower scaffolds, the incident could have been prevented.
TA Knox Shopfitters Ltd of Hollingworth Road, Bredbury, Stockport pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,623.
Published: 30-09-2021