Industry news
Scaffolder 'will never work again'
Posted Thu, 16 Feb 2012
A scaffolder will never again be able to carry out any manual work after he fell seven metres through a fragile roof in Stoke-on-Trent, a court has heard.
Gary Hampton, 28, was working for Fred Lewis Scaffold Company Ltd on 30 April 2010 when he dropped through the factory roof in Plantation Road on Newstead Industrial Estate. The father-of-three was hospitalised for six weeks after the incident left him with a shattered thigh bone, bruised lungs, broken wrists and vertebrae, the court heard. He still suffers from a lot of pain in his leg and has weak wrists which will need more surgery.
At Fenton Magistrates' Court Fred Lewis Scaffold Company Ltd, whose registered office is in West Bromwich, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £19,000 costs.
A Health and Safety Executive investigation concluded the company did not prepare or survey the job to correct standards and failed to supervise or train its workers.
Copyright Press Association 2012