U.K. Edition
Hastings scaffold firm fined for putting workers at risk
A Hastings firm has been fined after handing over unsecured scaffolding to a client, putting builders at risk.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector visited a site at Claremont, Hastings, on 20 April 2010 where building repairs and external work were being carried out.
The inspector noted that scaffolding erected by Totalscaff (GB) Ltd, trading as Total Service Group (TSG), around the building had not been adequately tied, meaning it was unstable.
By law, all scaffolding must be inspected by a competent person before it can be used.
Hastings Magistrates’ Court was told the worker who undertook safety checks, Christian Ball, had been previously been advised of the need to adequately tie scaffolding but had overlooked this advice. He was also fined.
Totalscaff (GB) Ltd, of Ninfield Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, was found guilty and Christian Ball, 35, of West Hill Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 28(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. Totalscaff (GB) Ltd was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 in costs, and Mr Ball was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £2,274 costs.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Melvyn Stancliffe said:
“Scaffold collapses can have serious consequences and tying the scaffold – or something similar – is essential for stability and ensuring it does not collapse while being erected or being used. Its importance cannot and should not be overlooked.
“HSE and the scaffolding industry have worked together to produce guidance to help scaffolding contractors ensure their scaffolding is safe. It is easy to follow. By not following it, people’s lives were put at risk unnecessarily.
“HSE will take firm action against individuals and contractors who ignore their health and safety obligations. It is essential that contractors and contract managers equip themselves with the necessary information and guidance material and apply it each and every time a scaffold is built.”
Via: HSE (Press Release)
Harsco helps change the face of Ipswich landmark
A bespoke suspended access cradle system from Harsco Infrastructure is being used to help improve the appearance of a major landmark building in Ipswich.
The system is being utilised to refurbish the facades of the 7-storey Suffolk House building which house the offices of AXA Insurance. Designed to provide a totally bespoke and highly flexible access solution that allows up to 12 two-man cradles to be used at one time, it features a unique counterbalance system which requires only minimal mechanical fixing to the roof of the building.
XFactor: Singing scaffolder gets through to next round
Singing Scaffolder Terry Winstanley made quite an impression in the xfactor auditions that was shown on ITV1 this evening.
The 51 year old Granddad from Worthing, West Sussex wowed the judges with his version of Michael Bolton’s ‘To Love Somebody’.
He explained his story to Dermot O’Leary by saying:
“I’m currently working as an HGV driver for a scaffolding company, we take the goods to the sites, and the I hump it, lump it and grump it…I’ve got four children and two step-children, I adore my grandchildren.
“I’ve been singing since I was a kid but not seriously, I’ve just done the odd bit here and there …I got married relatively young, I was only 21, the kids came along early as well and I really lost touch with music…it wasn’t until the kids grew up a bit that I started to realise what I was missing and by then I was in the thirties, I just thought maybe I’m too old…I would love to get the music back in my life, this is a huge day for me, I haven’t slept properly in a week…this is it, there’s no more after this, it’s finished, if I don’t progress then I shall just say thank you for a lovely experience and that’ll be it.”
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Two Gloucestershire builders injured in scaffolding fall
Two builders – thought to be father and son – have been rescued after falling through a gap in scaffolding while working on a house in Gloucestershire.
The pair were working on Hasfield House in Tewkesbury when they fell and were injured by falling masonry on Friday.
Great Western Ambulance said a man, 30, fell 9m (30ft) and his father, aged 60, fell and was struck by a weight.
The older man suffered a broken wrist and ankle and was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.
An aerial ladder platform was used to hoist paramedics up to the pair whose fall was broken by some lower scaffold 10m (33ft) from the ground.
One was taken down from the scaffold on a stretcher on the platform.
Group manager Simon McMillan said: “Our fire crews did an excellent job at what was a difficult incident.
“The injuries could have been much more severe had the men’s fall not been broken by a scaffolding platform below.
“They were, however, in some pain and the crews were able to reassure them and keep them calm before using the platform to allow paramedics to reach and treat them as quickly as possible.”
Via: www.bbc.co.uk
Scaffolding collapses at US border crossing injuring 11
The US nation’s busiest border crossing has reopened 13 of 24 vehicle lanes after scaffolding collapsed a day earlier, halting all U.S.-bound traffic.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the San Ysidro border crossing connecting San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, opened the lanes at midnight Thursday.
The agency was uncertain when the crossing’s remaining 11 lanes would reopen, but did not expect it would happen Thursday.
Scaffolding collapsed at California’s San Ysidro port of entry, reportedly injuring at least 11 people and forcing the closure of all lanes into the United States at the busiest border crossing in the world.
Officials shut down all northbound lanes at the border and were turning all traffic back to Tijuana.
The collapse occurred at about 11 a.m. at a covered area of the port that is undergoing demolition as part of an expansion. Debris from the collapse covered one car that was near the exit of the canopy that covers the border inspection booths.
The collapsed scaffolding was intended to protect cars from debris falling during the demolition. The cause of the collapse is under investigation, the website reports.
Via: www.Foxnews.com
Via: www.Foxnews.com 13 People detained after fatal scaffold collapse in China
13 people have been detained by chinese police today after the deadly suspended scaffold collapse that has now killed 10 workmen.
We previously reported that 7 workmen were killed when the scaffolding structure on a tower block in Xi’an NW China collapsed and crashed to the ground from the 23rd floor (63 meters) of the tower block.
Eyewitness at the scene said they saw the chains supporting the suspended scaffold snap.
A government spokesperson said: “An internal investigation shows that workers had violated working regulations before lowering the scaffolding.”The Xi’an government has ordered a crack down on illegal operations and eliminate safety problems on construction sites within the city.
Atlantic Hoisting & Scaffolding helps to rebuild Ground Zero
Meath man Karl O’Reilly is playing a pivotal role in the rebuild of Ground Zero. Originally from Kells Ireland, the 31-year-old is working as the project manager with Atlantic Hoisting and Scaffolding.
The company provides hoist cars or construction elevators for workers and materials that are being used to rebuild the site that the Twin Towers once occupied.
Atlantic Hoisting & Scaffolding was founded by the Breslin brothers, John and Michael, who also hail from Kells.
O’Reilly first came to New York ten years ago and was working close by the Twin Towers when tragedy hit on 9-11.
With the tenth anniversary of 9-11 just months away, there is a big push to complete the memorial in time for the commemoration.
O’Reilly has vivid memories of that September day when two planes crashed into New York’s tallest buildings and irreversibly changed America.
“I was on a building up on 17th Street that morning, so I wasn’t that far away, probably about half-a-mile or thereabouts,” he told the Meath Chronicle.
“I remember being in my boss’s van at the time, we were just down having coffee, and we heard these snippets of news coming over the airwaves.
“Initially, we thought it was a joke, because we were down on the ground so you couldn’t actually see the towers, but we soon could see the smoke streaming out of the buildings.
“The one thing I will never forget from that day was probably the mass panic by everybody, nobody knew what was going on, that was the big thing. It was a pretty frightening event. We were well safe where we were but because nobody knew what was going on – we were in the middle between the World Trade Centre and the Empire State – and you didn’t know whether the Empire State Building was going to be next; we just didn’t know what could happen next,” he recalls.
“It was panic. We could hear the rumbles in the distance. After the second tower fell, the whole city was on lockdown. No movement in or out of tunnels or subways, or anything.”
Soon after the Meath man travelled home to a booming Ireland, but despite the plentiful opportunities he was once again lured back to the city that new sleeps.
In 2007 he returned to New York with his girlfriend, Geraldine Fox. Who works as a handbag designer.
“When it comes to fashion, there is London, Paris, Milan or New York. I don’t speak Italian or French too well, London was too close so we said we would give New York a shot. It was more coincidence that I was offered the chance to work in America sometime before that and I took it.
We always knew we were going to move away and give it a shot. We left, even though the Celtic Tiger was going strong in Ireland,” he recalls.
According to O’Reilly there are “a lot of Irish guys” employed at Ground Zero currently.
“That has been quite an eye-opener for me because I had been working outside the city where I wasn’t coming into contact with many Irish people and then when I went in on this job, and you meet so many. Even in our own company, there are a lot of Irish. A lot of the foremen are Irish. Basically, all the contractors that are there have a lot of Irish, which is good to see.”
New York life suits O’Reilly for the time being, and he admits that there is little right now to tempt him to return to Ireland.
“You’re not going to work on a 105-storey building at home, they don’t exist. Over here, you’ll meet every walk of life, it’s such a diverse city,” he says. “Anyway, a lot of our friends who lived in Ireland have now gone elsewhere looking for work.”
Scaffolder sacked unfairly is awarded £13k
A DUDLEY scaffolder who complained he was sacked after using the firm’s mobile phone to enable him to do his work after the devices had been withdrawn from employees, has been awarded more than £13,000.
John Weaver from the Priory estate, told Birmingham Employment Tribunal his boss later deducted £204, the cost of the mobile calls, from his wages.
Mr Weaver was seeking compensation for unfair dismissal, notice pay and the £204 against Brierley Hill Scaffolding Ltd of Dudley.
The tribunal was told that the firm, which did not attend the hearing, was now in liquidation.
Mr Weaver, aged 49, said he had been employed by the firm for nine years and sometimes worked on Sundays as well as Saturday mornings, getting paid around £96 a day.
Mr Weaver said his boss withdrew mobile phones from all employees and that he was sacked after he used the firm’s mobile phone to enable him to carry out his work.
He complained that the costs of the calls, £204, was later unfairly deducted from his wages.
Mr Weaver said that he had been put on short time working at one stage and asked the tribunal if he was entitled to redundancy pay.
He alleged that his boss had since formed a new firm.
Tribunal Judge Mrs Sheila Batten said his former boss was legally entitled to form a new firm but that Mr Weaver could not claim redundancy pay.
She said his compensation claims for unfair dismissal, notice pay and the unauthorised deduction of wages – the £204 – had been well founded and she awarded him a total of £13,214, as the firm had sacked him without following proper dismissal procedures.
Mrs Batten said the Government’s Redundancy Office would be responsible for the payment but warned Mr Weaver he was unlikely to receive all the award.
Via: www.dudleynews.co.uk
7 Die after suspended scaffold collapses in NW China
Seven people have been confirmed dead after scaffolding collapsed on a 30 story building at a construction site in Xi’an NW China.
Twelve people was also buried under the scaffolding which fell from the 23rd floor after the supporting chains snapped
Five people was seriously injured and rushed to hospital.
The cause of the accident is under investigation.
Two workers fall 20ft off scaffolding Sarpy County USA
Two workers were injured Tuesday morning when they fell nearly 20 feet off of scaffolding at a construction site in Sarpy County.
The two men were both wearing safety harnesses, but one worker hit the ground.
Jared Kirkendall, 27, of Auburn, Neb., was flown to the Nebraska Medical Center with head injuries after his safety harness failed to stop his 17-foot fall, said Sarpy County Sheriff’s Capt. Monty Daganaar.
John Meyers, 44, of Council Bluffs, was taken by ambulance to the Nebraska Medical Center with chest and rib injuries after his harness pulled him up short of the ground, Daganaar said.
By Tuesday afternoon, both were listed in fair condition.
The accident occurred about 10:30 a.m. at Omaha’s wastewater treatment facility in Papillion, 15707 Harlan Lewis Road, south of Offutt Air Force Base and north of Plattsmouth.
Daganaar said the men fell from scaffolding while doing welding work inside the building on the roof of a tank at the facility.
Both men work for John T. Jones Construction Co., which was operating under a contract with the City of Omaha, according to Aida Amoura, spokeswoman for the Omaha mayor’s office.
Authorities are investigating why the men fell and why Kirkendall’s harness did not stop him.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was contacted regarding the fall, Daganaar said.
Via: www.omaha.com