Amberley Homes, a construction company in Kent, has been fined £25,000 after a sub-contractor fell from an unguarded scaffolding opening
Mark Tolley, 51, fell nearly two metres through an opening in a scaffold on 5 July 2017 while working on the construction of six houses. He sustained several broken ribs and serious internal injuries, including a punctured lung. He later died on 13 July 2017.
Mr Tolley had been installing vertical hanging tiles on one of the new properties when he fell 1.8 metres through an unguarded opening in the scaffold and landed on the ground below.
Amberly Homes had not appointed a person with the necessary training to manage a construction site
An investigation by HSE found Amberley Homes (Kent) Ltd, the principal contractor for the project, had not appointed a person with the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and training to manage the construction site.
The company had not ensured that a safe working platform on the scaffold was maintained throughout the different phases of the project.
Access to and from the first lift working platform was unsafe, as multiple openings had been made that could subsist for several weeks. The openings were unguarded, and therefore, there was a significant risk of falling approximately 1.8 metres from the working platform.
Image courtesy of HSE.
The company did not act on safety concerns raised
Amberley Homes (Kent) Ltd did not act on concerns raised by its safety consultant when he drew the problems with site management.
The company entered a guilty plea to breaching Regulation 13(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 during a trial at Maidstone Nightingale Court in January 2024.
The company was fined £25,000 and ordered to pay £83,842.34 in costs at Canterbury Crown Court on 15 March 2024.
The incident could have been avoided by implementing site management
HSE principal inspector Ross Carter said: “This tragic death could have been so easily avoided by implementing suitable site management to ensure that the scaffold was appropriately adapted by competent persons for the needs of the different sub-contractors.
“This case highlights that principal contractors should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those who fall below the required standards and do not plan, manage and monitor the construction phase effectively.”
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