Heavy penalties have been put upon a construction firm after pleading guilty for breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 after two workers were seriously injured in a workplace accident.
The two workers had been moving concrete lintels using scaffolding to cap a lift shaft, when they fell through a gap between the fourth floor of the building and the lift shaft. One man fell 10 metres and the other fell 2, leaving them with serious injuries, however they were very lucky to avoid one of the concrete lintels that also fell with them, weighing 110kg.
The incident happened after the scaffolding that they were using to access the lintels, tipped over causing them to fall down the side of the lift shaft.
An investigation carried out by the Health and Safety Executive Inspectors found that the scaffolding was unstable and had not been correctly erected; there was also a gap of 0.5m and 1.0m between the floor and lift.
Due to the lack of incompetence by the company, this could have resulted in 2 fatalities. By ensuring the management of any site activities is carried out and the workers who erected the scaffolding had the correct skills and experience to carry out the task at hand these accidents could have been avoided.
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