Workers demolishing 18 boarded up houses was saved by tucking into there breakfast as the scaffolding they were working on collapsed.The workers were lucky to be alive after the scaffolding and Monoflex came crashing down to the street below in strong winds.
The collapse happend at 10:25am on Saturday on Wellington Road in Hanley Stoke on Trent. Two parked cars were damaged by the scaffold.
The HSE are now investigating into how this accident happened but one theory is that the wind had pull the scaffold over in 50 mph gusts.
Richard Marson, aged 26, said: “We were five minutes’ late going back out after our breakfast and if we had been on time we could have been killed.
“My sausage and egg butty saved my life.”
Daniel Simpson, aged 19, added: “We were working on the scaffolding just before it collapsed.
“Then we were in the cabin having breakfast and just heard it come crashing down.”
Chris Morrall, aged 19, said: “If this had happened any earlier or later, I would’ve been dead.”
Paramedics were called to Wellington Road, although no-one was injured.
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “The workmen had a very lucky escape given the size of the scaffolding.”
The scene of the collapse
Residents of Wellington Road described hearing an ‘almighty bang’ as the scaffolding crashed to the ground.
Dangerous structure officers from Stoke-on-Trent City Council went out to Wellington Road.
A council spokesman said: “Our investigation will look into the causes of the accident. We are grateful that no-one was hit by the scaffolding and no-one was injured.
“You cannot legislate for freak weather. We are satisfied that people acted swiftly and we will monitor the situation.”
A Scaffolder who bit off “a substantial” part of another man’s ear has been jailed for four years.Simon Burrows, aged 35, was already on bail for another offence of inflicting grievous bodily harm and for crashing his car through a toll barrier on the Cleddau Bridge.
Kevin Riordan, prosecuting, told Swansea crown court that Burrows had been in a long, on-off relationship with Emma Bancroft.
On October 13 he saw her in the street and a row developed. Burrows hit her several times to the face and Miss Bancroft ran to the home of her mother in Clare Walk, Pembroke.
Her mother answered the door to find Burrows standing over Miss Bancroft, punching her in the face as she held her two and a half year old daughter.
Burrows drove away from the scene, forcing other drivers to take evasive action. When he reached the Cleddau Bridge he smashed through the barrier.
Mr Riordan said when police caught up with Burrows they saw him get out of the car holding a length of rope. He was detained under the Mental Health Act because he appeared to be suicidal.
A blood test showed he was almost twice over the drink drive limit.
Burrows admitted inflicting gbh, dangerous driving and drink driving.
Mr Riordan said he was granted bail.
On December 1 he went to a flat in Tenby Court, Monkton, where some friends were drinking.
One of the visitors, Lloyd Anthony Richard Jenkins, thought Burrows was about to attack another man and intervened.
Burrows responded by biting his ear and wouldn’t let go even when Mr Jenkins put a thumb into one of his eyes.
Burrows bit off part of the ear and spat it out.
He denied inflicting grievous bodily harm but was convicted by a jury.
He maintained that although he had placed his teeth onto the ear the damaging biting had happened because someone had hit his chin from below.
Judge Keith Thomas said the father of six, a scaffolder, had used his teeth as a weapon.
The attack on Miss Bancroft, he added, had involved the deliberate targeting of a vulnerable person.
Scaffolding around a row of terraced houses due for demolition in north Staffordshire has collapsed.
The scene of the collapse
The scaffolding was in place in Wellington Road in the Hanley area of Stoke-on-Trent.
A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said they were called to the street at 1030 BST.
He added: “Although there were workmen there, no-one was hurt; a very lucky escape indeed given the size of the structure that had fallen.”
Fire crews also attended the scene.
A SCAFFOLDING firm based in Deeside has been awarded a gold medal for its sustained excellence in safety.The medal was presented by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) after the NSG UK achieved six safety awards in a row.
Howard Satchell, compliance manager at NSG UK, based at Deeside Industrial Park, said: “Safety is paramount to the business so we are delighted to be recognised with the RoSPA award.
“It demonstrates to our clients and potential customers that we are a responsible and conscientious business that places health and safety as top priority.”
Mr Satchell said NSG had to provide the RoSPA with evidence of good health and safety management.
The company highlighted its excellent track record over the past year and its safety schemes developed and implemented by the shop-floor staff at NSG UK.
Mr Satchell added: “We felt it was important for them to have ownership.
“They are trained to monitor the health and safety actions of colleagues, make recommendations for on-site improvements and engage in regular meetings with senior managers.”
NSG UK managing director, Mike Carr, said: “We work closely with our employees and customers to continually improve our performance, and the gold medal is tribute to the hard work and dedication of the whole workforce.
“This is the sixth year on the run our safety performance has been recognised on a national level and we will endeavour to keep up our excellent record.”
A RoSPA spokesman said: “NSG UK has achieved a very high level of performance, demonstrating well-developed occupational health and safety management systems, outstanding control of risk and very low levels of error, harm and loss.”
A widow whose husband died after falling from scaffolding was today leading a rally in Manchester to highlight health and safety failings in the workplace.Labourer Andrew Herbertson, 29, from Failsworth, fell as he tried to dismantle a printing press in Oldham in 1998.
Linzi Herbertson, 38, has worked tirelessly to call for better workplace health and safety legislation since her husband’s death at Chadwicks Printers.
She helped form Families Against Corporate Killers, a national campaigning group aiming to stop preventable deaths in the workplace.
Mrs Herberston was due to address crowds at Albert Square in Manchester city centre today – International Workers’ Memorial Day.
She said: “Everyone should be able to go to work and come home at the end of the shift unharmed.
“This year we must fight harder as the protection of workers is under attack as never before from deregulation reviews, cuts in enforcement and people rubbishing it as nonsense.
“We are told our health and safety costs employers too much and it stops jobs being created.
“This is not true and all the evidence shows it is poor health and safety that costs lives and health and also costs all of us more money than we can afford.
“Regulations don’t kill jobs but lack of regulation and enforcement kills workers.”
Mrs Herberston was being joined by a host of guest speakers – and relatives of those who have died at work.
They include Manchester Central MP Tony Lloyd and Kevin Brown, regional secretary of the Fire Brigades Union. Local authority union representatives will also be present.
They are marching from Manchester Mechanics’ Institute on Princess Street to Albert Square from 11.15am.
The Albert Square rally was taking place at noon, including a minute’s silence for those who have died at work.
The day, which has been recognised by the government, will also be marked with events in Bolton.
Figures show that some 1,700 people are killed in work-related incidents in Britain each year and up to 50,000 by work-related illness – including 18,000 from occupational cancers.
Flook Scaffolding have been ordered to pay just over £4,000 for Health & Safety BreachesImage via thisisbristol.co.uk
Shaun Stevens,41 fell 13ft to his death when dismantling racking at Flook Scaffolding yard.
The HSE had found after an investigation the firm had breached safety regulations, but these were not the direct result for Shaun’s death
Company partner Russell Flook,46 of Bridgeyate Bristol pleaded guilty to the breaches in that the firm lacked a written Risk Assessment, had defected safety harnesses and also created a bogus method statement following the death of Shaun.
The judge fined Flook Scaffolding £3,000 as well as £1,000 costs and £15 victim charge.
The court heard how in October 2006 Shaun and two other workmates were given the job of dismantling the racking with a corrugated roof. Shaun took the top position and fell to the ground and hit his head. He was rushed to Frenchay Hospital but died without gaining consciousness 12 days later.
Shaun was not wearing a safety harness at the time and there is no statutory requirements for that job. But the HSE investigated and found that 4 harnesses for higher work were either old, cut or badly worn.
The accident happened on the 4th October and Flook showed the HSE the method statement for the job which he actually created on the 5th October.
Shaun Stevens of Kingswood Bristol worked for the company for 7 years and was highly regarded as a Scaffolder and as a person.
Flook Scaffolding stopped trading in September 2010 and had debts of £160,000, Boss Scaffolding was then set up but that had accrued debts and Flook himself had £5,000 of mortgage arrears.
Shaun’s widow Tanya said “I hope that Russell Flook has learnt from this and takes health and safety seriously on site, making sure his workers wear harnesses and work safely, so that no one else has to experience what we have gone through.”
Young fighter has had to pull out of his Martial Arts fight after an injury at workScaffolder Edward Arthur, 21, sustained a shoulder injury while at work just days before he was due to face Sam Creasy in his first semi-professional fight.
Edward, who trains under Hemel Martial Arts founder Denniston Sutherland, is the latest promising fighter to emerge from the club and make his mark in the world of martial arts.
His last bout, held in March, saw him defeat Leroy Dex in an amateur class fight held in Slough.
A man is in hospital and is recovering today after falling from scaffolding in AberdeenThe man was working on a scaffold for chimney work at a property in Abbotshall Road in the city’s Cults area when for some unknown reason the man fell from the scaffold.
Emergency services rushed the 68 year old to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where his injures are today not thought to be life threatening.
Pyeroy Industrial Services Group has seen increases in profits and says its in a strong pisition for growth in the future with £120m in the order book.Pyeroy was founded in 1973 as a protective coatings company, but diversified in the mid nineties after a large amount of key north east ship yards closed.
The company now providing specialist scaffolding, asbestos handling and industrial painting services that are being used currently as Pyeroy are responsible for painting the Forth Rail Bridge.
Pyeroy last year had a number of profitable contracts, including £14m of new work within its industrial services sector.
Also work on a £3m contract at Rio Tinto Alcan’s Lynemouth site to install access scaffolding and cleaning of its coal fired power station is now complete.
The managing director of Pyeroy Hugh Pelham said
“This is a good set of results despite the continuing economic pressures and we are well- placed to see strong growth continue well into the future.
“Our strategy of focusing on providing added value solutions is clearly succeeding and paying dividends as we have continued to win major work across the board cementing our position as a leading provider of specialist industrial services.”
Pelham also said: “We now have in place a highly-skilled and motivated workforce, which together with a continued focus on delivering quality, is seeing us emerge strongly from the some of the worst trading conditions for decades.”
Written By Daniel Norton.
Discuss this and connect with over 1,600 scaffolders on our Facebook fan page
Update: The police have apologised after they reported 40 tonne of scaffolding had been stolen in Scarborough in the wrong location.As they reported last week that the theft took place from a secure yard behind The Royal Hotel in St Nicholas Street and appealed to the public for help.
But yesterday they reveald that thae scaffolding had actuly been stolen from a lock up behind a petrol satation in Scamor Road.
It is believed that the scaffold tubes are worth £5K. They ranged in length from between 4ft – 12ft, in total 260 tubes were stolen.
PC Craig Malia said “This was a substantial amount of scaffolding it would have needed a large wagon to load it all up in one visit or numerous visits with a smaller vehicle.”
Written By Daniel Norton.
Has the Police made another mess up with over estimating the weight of 260 tubes of various lengths between 4ft-12ft .What do you think ? Have your say on this story below or on our Facebook fan page
The workers were lucky to be alive after the scaffolding and Monoflex came crashing down to the street below in strong winds.
The collapse happend at 10:25am on Saturday on Wellington Road in Hanley Stoke on Trent. Two parked cars were damaged by the scaffold.
The HSE are now investigating into how this accident happened but one theory is that the wind had pull the scaffold over in 50 mph gusts.
Richard Marson, aged 26, said: “We were five minutes’ late going back out after our breakfast and if we had been on time we could have been killed.
“My sausage and egg butty saved my life.”
Daniel Simpson, aged 19, added: “We were working on the scaffolding just before it collapsed.
“Then we were in the cabin having breakfast and just heard it come crashing down.”
Chris Morrall, aged 19, said: “If this had happened any earlier or later, I would’ve been dead.”
Paramedics were called to Wellington Road, although no-one was injured.
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “The workmen had a very lucky escape given the size of the scaffolding.”
Simon Burrows, aged 35, was already on bail for another offence of inflicting grievous bodily harm and for crashing his car through a toll barrier on the Cleddau Bridge.
Kevin Riordan, prosecuting, told Swansea crown court that Burrows had been in a long, on-off relationship with Emma Bancroft.
On October 13 he saw her in the street and a row developed. Burrows hit her several times to the face and Miss Bancroft ran to the home of her mother in Clare Walk, Pembroke.
Her mother answered the door to find Burrows standing over Miss Bancroft, punching her in the face as she held her two and a half year old daughter.
Burrows drove away from the scene, forcing other drivers to take evasive action. When he reached the Cleddau Bridge he smashed through the barrier.
Mr Riordan said when police caught up with Burrows they saw him get out of the car holding a length of rope. He was detained under the Mental Health Act because he appeared to be suicidal.
A blood test showed he was almost twice over the drink drive limit.
Burrows admitted inflicting gbh, dangerous driving and drink driving.
Mr Riordan said he was granted bail.
On December 1 he went to a flat in Tenby Court, Monkton, where some friends were drinking.
One of the visitors, Lloyd Anthony Richard Jenkins, thought Burrows was about to attack another man and intervened.
Burrows responded by biting his ear and wouldn’t let go even when Mr Jenkins put a thumb into one of his eyes.
Burrows bit off part of the ear and spat it out.
He denied inflicting grievous bodily harm but was convicted by a jury.
He maintained that although he had placed his teeth onto the ear the damaging biting had happened because someone had hit his chin from below.
Judge Keith Thomas said the father of six, a scaffolder, had used his teeth as a weapon.
The attack on Miss Bancroft, he added, had involved the deliberate targeting of a vulnerable person.
The medal was presented by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) after the NSG UK achieved six safety awards in a row.
Howard Satchell, compliance manager at NSG UK, based at Deeside Industrial Park, said: “Safety is paramount to the business so we are delighted to be recognised with the RoSPA award.
“It demonstrates to our clients and potential customers that we are a responsible and conscientious business that places health and safety as top priority.”
Mr Satchell said NSG had to provide the RoSPA with evidence of good health and safety management.
The company highlighted its excellent track record over the past year and its safety schemes developed and implemented by the shop-floor staff at NSG UK.
Mr Satchell added: “We felt it was important for them to have ownership.
“They are trained to monitor the health and safety actions of colleagues, make recommendations for on-site improvements and engage in regular meetings with senior managers.”
NSG UK managing director, Mike Carr, said: “We work closely with our employees and customers to continually improve our performance, and the gold medal is tribute to the hard work and dedication of the whole workforce.
“This is the sixth year on the run our safety performance has been recognised on a national level and we will endeavour to keep up our excellent record.”
A RoSPA spokesman said: “NSG UK has achieved a very high level of performance, demonstrating well-developed occupational health and safety management systems, outstanding control of risk and very low levels of error, harm and loss.”
Labourer Andrew Herbertson, 29, from Failsworth, fell as he tried to dismantle a printing press in Oldham in 1998.
Linzi Herbertson, 38, has worked tirelessly to call for better workplace health and safety legislation since her husband’s death at Chadwicks Printers.
She helped form Families Against Corporate Killers, a national campaigning group aiming to stop preventable deaths in the workplace.
Mrs Herberston was due to address crowds at Albert Square in Manchester city centre today – International Workers’ Memorial Day.
She said: “Everyone should be able to go to work and come home at the end of the shift unharmed.
“This year we must fight harder as the protection of workers is under attack as never before from deregulation reviews, cuts in enforcement and people rubbishing it as nonsense.
“We are told our health and safety costs employers too much and it stops jobs being created.
“This is not true and all the evidence shows it is poor health and safety that costs lives and health and also costs all of us more money than we can afford.
“Regulations don’t kill jobs but lack of regulation and enforcement kills workers.”
Mrs Herberston was being joined by a host of guest speakers – and relatives of those who have died at work.
They include Manchester Central MP Tony Lloyd and Kevin Brown, regional secretary of the Fire Brigades Union. Local authority union representatives will also be present.
They are marching from Manchester Mechanics’ Institute on Princess Street to Albert Square from 11.15am.
The Albert Square rally was taking place at noon, including a minute’s silence for those who have died at work.
The day, which has been recognised by the government, will also be marked with events in Bolton.
Figures show that some 1,700 people are killed in work-related incidents in Britain each year and up to 50,000 by work-related illness – including 18,000 from occupational cancers.
Pyeroy was founded in 1973 as a protective coatings company, but diversified in the mid nineties after a large amount of key north east ship yards closed.
The company now providing specialist scaffolding, asbestos handling and industrial painting services that are being used currently as Pyeroy are responsible for painting the Forth Rail Bridge.
Pyeroy last year had a number of profitable contracts, including £14m of new work within its industrial services sector.
Also work on a £3m contract at Rio Tinto Alcan’s Lynemouth site to install access scaffolding and cleaning of its coal fired power station is now complete.
The managing director of Pyeroy Hugh Pelham said
“This is a good set of results despite the continuing economic pressures and we are well- placed to see strong growth continue well into the future.
“Our strategy of focusing on providing added value solutions is clearly succeeding and paying dividends as we have continued to win major work across the board cementing our position as a leading provider of specialist industrial services.”
Pelham also said: “We now have in place a highly-skilled and motivated workforce, which together with a continued focus on delivering quality, is seeing us emerge strongly from the some of the worst trading conditions for decades.”