A scaffolder has been prosecuted after he repeatedly allowed unsafe work at height to be carried out on a busy London street.
Greg
Pearson, from Enfield, trading as ‘Pearsons Scaffolding’, was
prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a member of
the public raised concerns about scaffolding work being carried out on
Tavistock Street in central London.
She was so concerned for the
safety of passers-by and workers on the fifteen metre high scaffold that
three separate complaints including photographs and videos were passed
to HSE.
HSE visited the site twice and found the incomplete
scaffold to be poorly erected and unsafe work practices were putting
workers at risk. No measures had been taken to prevent any falling
scaffolding equipment hitting members of the public below.
HSE
served a Prohibition Notice ordering work to be stopped until the
scaffold was made safe, but Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that
Pearson ignored this and other warnings, carrying on regardless.
[2]
The
court also heard Pearson failed to respond when required to produce
documents for inspection during the investigation, hindering the HSE’s
efforts to ensure future work was carried out safely at other sites.
Pearsons Scaffolding’s involvement at the site only ended when a second
Prohibition Notice was served and the project’s Principal Contractor
decided to take on another scaffolder to complete the work.
Greg
Pearson, 33, of South Street, Enfield, pleaded guilty to two breaches of
the Work at Height Regulations 2005 (6(3), 10(1)) and was given two
suspended prison sentences of 10 weeks to run concurrently, suspended
for 12 months. He was also ordered to pay costs of £200 and a victim
surcharge of £80.
Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers said:
“Greg
Pearson repeatedly put the lives of other workers and members of the
public at risk. He blatantly disregarded all warnings and enforcement
action taken against him and it was just good fortune that no one was
killed.
It’s vital that law abiding scaffolders have confidence
they will not lose work to others who underquote them because they take
shortcuts at the expense of safety.
This case should send a
message to other scaffolders that Courts will sentence robustly even
when the reckless working practices have thankfully not resulted in
serious injuries or fatalities.
“I applaud the member of the
public who alerted us to this as thankfully we were able to avoid the
workers or the public being injured or killed. We encourage people to
report unsafe work to us so we can act to protect workers and the
public.”
NEBOSH COMBINED NATIONAL GENERAL/CONSTRUCTION CERTIFICATE IN HEALTH AND SAFETY
