The 46-year-old fell more than five metres from an incomplete tower scaffold – being used to remove floor beams from two levels of a warehouse on Homerton High Street, Hackney, on 13 October 2009.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the client Nabiganj Investment Company Limited who employed the man as a principal contractor, failed to implement a number of measures that could have prevented the incident.
HSE inspectors found asbestos in debris from the demolition work and discovered that no asbestos survey had been conducted prior to work starting.
City of London Magistrates heard at least six Chinese migrant workers who spoke very little English had been demolishing floors and moving debris around, potentially exposing themselves to asbestos fibres. The worker who fell from the scaffold suffered life-threatening injuries to his head, pelvis and spine and can now only walk with difficulty.
Nabiganj Investment Company Limited of Alexandra Park Road, London pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4 (1) (a), Regulation 10, Regulation 14(1) and Regulation 16(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. The company was fined £37,500 and ordered to pay costs of £5,459.90.
The court heard that the firm has had previous enforcement action imposed on it relating to other sites, including two Improvement Notices for failure to comply with client duties under Construction Design and Management Regulations (CDM) and two Prohibition Notices for work at height.
Speaking after the sentence, HSE Inspector Eileen Gascoigne said:
“A vulnerable worker was left with devastating injuries as a result of the consistently poor attitude to safety this company has displayed.
“This is an experienced property development firm, it has had previous enforcement action taken against it by the HSE relating to similar issues during construction work. Once again in avoiding its responsibilities, it has put the safety and health of at least six vulnerable workers at unnecessary risk.”
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Gerry Cooper, NASC President states:
John Robertson attended a three-hour hearing at Sunderland County Court.
Mr Robertson, 44, of York Avenue, Jarrow, said: “I’m gutted about being declared bankrupt after being in business for 15 years.
“It was horrendous to appear before a bankruptcy court, but given the size of my debts, I felt I had no other choice.
“I put myself forward voluntarily for bankruptcy because I have outstanding debts of around £1.3m, involving the Inland Revenue, Barclays Bank and mortgages.”
Mr Robertson is also due to appear at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court this week on a charge of criminal damage.
He is accused of smashing his 22ft truck into Strathmore House, the headquarters of South Tyneside Homes, at Jarrow’s Viking Industrial Estate on March 20.
It is claimed he caused damage totalling almost £160,000.
Untily recently, Mr Robertson employed 20 staff at Robertson Scaffolding at Wagonway Industrial Estate, Hebburn.
But he later became embroiled in a contractual dispute with South Tyneside Homes.
His business has now been dissolved.
He added: “I’m used to being my own boss and working 18 hours a day, so to be declared bankrupt and have no business is really hard.”
But despite his problems, Mr Robertson said he is “heartened” by support from friends and business associates in the community.
And after receiving 767 votes after standing as an Independent candidate for the Primrose ward in Jarrow in the recent local elections, Mr Robertson revealed he plans to continue pressing for a seat on South Tyneside Council.
Fire, ambulance and police crews were called to the Union Chapel, in Compton Avenue, Islington, at around 11.30am on Friday after a 50-year-old man was found unconscious at the top of scaffolding surrounding the old chapel.
A hazardous area response team rushed to the scene and ladders were sent to the top of the spire to bring the man down.
He was then treated at the scene, before being rushed to the University College Hospital in Euston as a priority.
Leon Shoben, 55, who works at the Elfrida Society, an educational facility in nearby Islington Park Street, said: “I was walking back from Highbury and Islington station with a class and I saw a lot of people looking up at the ladders and the fire engines.
“I thought the scaffolding had collapsed at the top, it looked like the people up there were moving a lot of stuff around. There were a lot of ambulances there.”
Daniela Sbrisny, duty manager at the Union Chapel, said: “We were the last ones to find out. One of our colleagues was outside and told us that someone had collapsed on the scaffolding.
“We ran outside to see if there was anything we could do, but by that time they were bringing him down on the big fire ladder.”
A spokeswoman for the London Ambulance Service said: “We were called to reports of a person taken unwell on scaffolding at the Union Chapel. We sent a motorcycle paramedic, an ambulance crew and our specialist hazardous area response team. The patient, reported to be a 50-year-old man, was unconscious at the top of the scaffolding.
“Our crews climbed ladders and scaffolding to reach him at the top of the spire which is 170 feet tall. They helped move him to a fire brigade platform where they treated him before he was lowered to the ground. He was taken to University College Hospital as a priority.”
The Deeside-based company has won five contracts, including a £100,000 deal to work on Merepark’s Central Village development in Liverpool city centre, and a £139,000 contract for Wates Construction at Liverpool John Moores University’s £37m Mount Pleasant Campus Redevelopment.
Six NSG UK staff are now working on the Merepark project, erecting scaffolding for enabling works for the future refurbishment and redevelopment of the famous Lewis’s building.
The firm is also providing scaffolding for the new six-floor LJMU building, which will be home to the Faculty for Business and Law, the Liverpool Screen School and the University’s new Professional Centre.
NSG UK has also been awarded two contracts to work on social housing stock in Sefton and Liverpool, erecting scaffolding for refurbishment and renovation projects.
The scaffolding – which had been in place at the property of Charles Felvus in Dimsdale Road since early last week – was to enable repair work to be done to the chimney.
According to Mr Felvus, this work has yet to be completed.
Now the collapse of the scaffolding has resulted in considerably more damage to the property – including a large hole in the roof which means rain has been getting into the loft.
In addition, the gas box outside Mr Felvus’ front door has been wrecked by falling scaffolding as has a large section of the fence between his home and his next door neighbour.
A shaken Mr Felvus said: “It was like something out of a disaster movie.
“One minute the scaffolding was in place, the next it was crashing down around us. It’s just lucky that no-one was outside when it happened.
“There’s a young girl lives next door and if it had fallen on her I dread to think what could have happened. You can see by the way it smashed through the fence the force it came down with.”
He went on to question the safety of the scaffolding installation and the length of time it had been in position with no apparent repair work being carried out.
He continued: “As far as I’m concerned that scaffolding had never been secured. If it had, no amount of wind would have brought it down.
“It was very dangerous and could so easily have had catastrophic consequences as well as the significant structural damage that has occurred.
“There’s meant to be an inspector who comes round. That never happened. And anyway, why was the scaffolding in place for so long? Surely six days is more than adequate to repair a chimney.”
He added: “I certainly don’t want to be waiting as long for the hole in my roof to be sorted out now.”
Joe Brady, planned and voids manager for the council’s housing and social work, said:
Almost 400 workers lost their jobs in March, when Vivergo terminated its contract with Redhall Engineering Services Ltd.
Through mediation group ACAS, Vivergo has offered almost £4,000 to each worker.
By accepting the offer, know as a COT3 agreement, workers will give up the right to bring further claims against the employer.
Les Dobbs, GMB union senior organiser, said: “We have told members we will support those who accept the compensation agreement, but we will also back those who wishing to continue to campaign to have their jobs back.”
The protests, which began in March, have caused severe traffic delays on several occasions, when workers blocked Hedon Road.
The driver was alerted to flames from the rear of his cab by other motorists.
He stopped near the junction of Muller Road and dialled 999.
Firefighters using a hose reel and foam dealt with the blaze, which seriously damaged the cab of the vehicle.
No one was hurt, and it is believed the fire was caused by an electrical fault.
Impressed by the capabilities and expertise which Harsco had shown on the first project, main contractor Spie SCGPM asked the company to repeat the process at Gare Saint-Lazare.
The large-scale renovation work on the main station canopy required Harsco to design and construct a 220-ton, 18-metre high MODEX scaffolding structure which covered an area of 3,840 m².
The modular nature of the overall scaffold system allows it to accommodate any shape, ground plan or height requirements with ease. This was particularly beneficial in creating the irregularly spaced walkways which were required by the site workforce.
To counter the confined nature of the site Harsco provided mobile cranes to lift-in the required materials. The complex nature of the various works also required Harsco to adhere to a detailed work schedule, so that all the necessary requirements for safety, minimising noise pollution and reducing disruption to the surrounding area could be satisfied.
One stage of the project required the use of specially skilled workers who were able to access the overhanging sections of the canopy to carry out the renovation work. The canopy renovation was carried out concurrently with other work to refurbish the building main structure, and the construction of a new shopping mall located within the station complex.