Ad
Saturday, September 6, 2025
13.6 C
London

The Voice of Scaffolding Since 2008  U.K. Edition

00Days
00Hours
00Mins
00Secs

Companies fined after scaffold tubes crush engineer

- Advertisement -

PHD Modular Access Services Ltd and Principal Contractor St George City Ltd have been fined after a structural engineer received serious crush injuries.

Southwark Crown Court heard how, on 15 September 2015, the engineer, accompanied by two managers at the site in London, approached four bundles of scaffold tube stored on the ground.

One of the bundles had been stacked on top of the other three which had been left unattended. The top bundle weighing about on tonne was disturbed, rolled off and fell onto the engineer’s lower legs.

It took several attempts to free him from under the bundle.

The engineer suffered fractures to both ankles and a number of fractures on his right leg.

The scaffold bundles were delivered earlier that day and belonged to scaffolding firm PHD Modular Access Services Ltd. St George City Ltd was the Principal Contractor for the site, where demolition activities were taking place within a very confined footprint.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that PHD failed to ensure that control measures specified in the company’s risk assessment were in place to prevent access by unauthorised persons.

St George City had signed off on PHD’s storage requirements and should have been conscious of the practical difficulties concerning deliveries and storage due to the confined nature of the site.

On the day of the incident, St George site management had become aware that the scaffold materials had not been segregated, however, no action was taken.

PHD Modular Access Services Ltd, based in Uxbridge pleaded guilty to breaching the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, and was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,777.99.

St George City Limited, which is part of the Berkeley Group, of Berkeley House, Portsmouth Road, Cobham, pleaded guilty to breaching the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and was fined £130,000 and ordered to pay costs of 7830.79.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Gabriella Dimitrov said:

“The contractors knew that it was a congested site with large demolition machines tracking around and as such required careful planning with regards to material arrivals and storage. This incident could have been easily prevented had suitable barriers been provided.”

- Advertisement -
Scaffmag Newsdesk
Scaffmag Newsdeskhttps://www.scaffmag.com
The staff at ScaffMag.com the leading scaffolding site for a digital generation.

Popular Categories

Most Read

Major shake-up in scaffolding training governance announced

The National Access and Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) has unveiled...

Shaun Ryder tipped as VIP guest at ScaffEx25 awards

Musician Shaun Ryder is rumoured to be among the...

Layher UK set to unveil show-stopping ScaffEx25 stand in exclusive preview 

Scaffmag has been given exclusive behind-the-scenes access to Layher...

Leaked Drone Footage Shows Giant ScaffEx Screen Over Manchester

Leaked drone footage has revealed a giant video screen...

SMART Scaffolder to unveil new mobile app at ScaffEx25

SMART Scaffolder will launch its latest mobile app, SMART...

Related Articles

Scaffolding Collapses Onto Van in North London

A large section of scaffolding collapsed onto a van on Stoke Newington Church Street in north London on Wednesday morning, trapping a driver underneath. The incident happened at around 07:30 am on April 16...
- Advertisements -

Latest Topics

Leach’s partners with DeWalt to launch tools tailored for scaffolders

Leach’s has announced a new partnership with power tool...

Major shake-up in scaffolding training governance announced

The National Access and Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) has unveiled...

Layher UK set to unveil show-stopping ScaffEx25 stand in exclusive preview 

Scaffmag has been given exclusive behind-the-scenes access to Layher...
- Advertisement -