A scaffolder not only failed to install adequate edge protection and safety ladders at his construction site; he also ignored a HSE inspector and continued to work unsafely in his direct view.
The Essex labourer was working on a four-storey scaffold tower on the outside of a building in Chelsea, but some parts of the scaffold had no proper access ladders, and none of it had proper edge protection.
What’s more, the scaffolder and his assistant would routinely throw materials to one another with disregard for the risk of them falling on to passers-by below – including those passing through an exit doorway directly beneath the scaffold.
Even the scaffold itself did not have enough boards for both levels on which work was being carried out, so some were moved from one position to the other as needed.
And when the HSE inspector arrived and warned the labourer against his methods of working, he simply carried on, before becoming so hostile that the police had to be called.
HSE inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers said: “The failings were abundantly obvious and trained scaffolder Mr Harker knew this, which is probably why he reacted in the manner he did.
“He was caught red-handed, panicked and tried to make the problem go away as he saw it.”
But the problem did not go away – Mr Harker found himself in court and was subsequently fined, highlighting that edge protection and safety ladders are not something to simply be ignored, especially in plain sight of a HSE inspector.