A scaffolding firm from Stoke-on-Trent has been fined after one
of its staff had an
accident at work.
Kevin Ford fell five feet from a scaffold he was dismantling at
the end of a job for Rafferty Chimneys Engineering of Nash Peake
Street, on 20-metre tall steel chimneys at Churchill China in
Tunstall.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found
the tower's guard rail was too low, it did not use the right boards
and no toe boards were in place.
The company pleaded guilty at Newcastle-under-Lyme magistrates
to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act
1974 and was fined £8,000. It was also ordered to pay £5,000
costs.
Mr Ford's fall caused a serious fracture to his heel, resulting
in pins being inserted into the bone and he spent 16 weeks in
plaster.