02/05/2025
The UK Government is considering some significant amendments to building regulations which will impact BWF Members and the wider woodworking and joinery manufacturing industry. A consultation of ...
The HSE has reported that an Aberdeen-based building and joinery firm has been sentenced after a worker suffered serious injuries when he fell three metres from scaffolding that he was dismantling.
The worker, then 47 and from Aberdeen, broke his left ankle, damaged the ligaments in his right ankle was knocked unconscious and cut his head. He was in hospital overnight and remained in plaster for six weeks as a result of his injuries. On 25th February 2015, the specialist Health and Safety Division of COPFS prosecuted the worker’s employer, which is not a BWF member. for health and safety breaches.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told that on 24 July 2012 that the Company asked the worker to move the scaffolding and take it to another site. He and a colleague, an apprentice, arrived at the farmhouse owned by the partner of one of the company’s directors where two scaffolding towers had been erected.
The towers had been erected in a narrow space between the farmhouse and a garden wall so that general maintenance work could be carried out.
As the worker dismantled the structure he removed some elements which left the poles unstable. As the poles moved, the metal board he was standing on moved and fell, taking the worker with it.
An HSE investigation found that neither the worker nor the apprentice working alongside him had received any formal training in the use of the type of scaffolding they were asked to work with.
The Aberdeen company, was fined £4,000 after pleading guilty to a breach of Regulations 4 and 8 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Liz Hunter said:
“The risks from falls at height are well known in the construction industry. Erecting and dismantling scaffolds should only be done by trained and skilled persons or under the supervision of such a person because you cannot entirely eliminate the risk of falls.
“No such training or supervision was provided by the company to the worker and his apprentice. They should never have been allowed to dismantle scaffolding that had been left unsecured and unsupported in this way.
“The correct method would have used competent erectors following the instructions in the scaffold manual, including safe ladder access and removal of components from below whilst working from a complete platform. The scaffold should have been erected on level ground that was free from debris and other trip hazards.
“As a result of the company’s failings, the worker sustained injuries that left him unable to work for 11 weeks and it was pure luck that the apprentice was not seriously hurt too.”
Falls from height are the biggest single cause of workplace deaths in the construction industry. The safety of your workers is of prime importance. The BWF's comprehensive 91 page Guide to Health and Safety in the woodworking industry includes guidance on young persons in the workplace and with HSE recovering costs at a rate of £1000/day for inspections, during which a breach is found, BWF has prepared a number of resources to help you mitigate Health and Safety risk such as:
– A 12 point ‘Health and Safety: the essentials’ checklist to help prevent you getting caught out and advice on what HSE field inspectors are looking for in our Health and Safety publications.
– Our selection of woodworking machinery safety cards.
– Health and Safety training – including machine refresher training, Health & Safety management qualifications and more.
– As a member you can also ring our Health and Safety helpline on 0844 209 2610.
– Our Health & Safety Hero Campaign resources include short videos you can show to your staff, presentations you can adapt to your own company's health & safety processes and safety essential checklists you can give to each member of staff. There will be a new topic launched each month
