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A scaffolder from Castleford has been prosecuted after a worker fell to his death from a roof. Walter Booth (trading as WB Roofing) was carrying out repairs to the roof of a church in Pontefract in September 2012. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the scaffolding edge protection provided by Mr Wayne Morgan (trading as Barnsdale Scaffolding) failed to follow the profile ... more
An engineering firm from County Durham has been fined after asbestos was discovered at their factory and it was found that they had failed to document or manage the risks to employees or visitors to the site. Darlington Magistrates’ Court heard how Blue Diamond Engineering Limited was notified of the presence of asbestos materials during a survey carried out at the company’s factory ... more
Facelift add the lights and finishing touches to the Christmas tree at the University of Sussex, ready for Friday 4 December, when all students, staff and alumni are invited to join the Students' Union as they turn on the Sussex Christmas tree lights on. There will be complimentary mince pies and mulled wine, along with Christmas songs and carols with the Sussex Choir and the Sussex Musical Theat ... more
A Castleford scaffolder has been ordered to do community service after a worker fell to his death from a church roof. Walter Booth (trading as WB Roofing) fell to his death while carrying out repairs to the roof of Micklegate Methodist Church in Pontefract on 10th January 2015. A Health & Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the scaffolding edge protection provided by Wayne Morgan (tra ... more
Time and again construction workers seek to work at height using machinery not designed for lifting people and time and again they get into trouble. St Albans Magistrates’ Court heard this week how site manager Edwin Heaney raised up a colleague in an excavator bucket on a house-building site on Loom Lane, Radlett, Hertfordshire. The colleague just needed to cut a protruding piece of steel ... more
IPAF is holding one of its UK regional meetings next Wednesday the 2nd of December evening in Old Windsor. The meeting kicks off at 18:30 at the Beaumont Estate Hotel, Burfield Road, Old Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 2JJ with Brian Parker, a group business development manager (technical support), who will discuss the latest initiatives from IPAF’s UK Country Council on issues with ground conditio ... more
Spotted by a reader in Australia a rental company taking a narrow spider lift through a gateway in a very cavalier way. While the job is a fantastic example of what can be achieved with this type of spider lift, the way in which the operator carries it out is fraught with danger. Oblivious to this he was proud enough to post it online. “It would appear the operator is 'riding' the ... more
The National Access & Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) has published seven revised and updated technical guidance (TG) and safety guidance (SG) documents. These revisions have come as part of the NASC’s commitment to refresh guidance on a five-year cycle. The four updated technical guidance notes are comprised of short 1-2 page update sheets; the three safety guidance notes are longer, ... more
A Rough Terrain crane overturned in a refinery owned and operated by Suncor in Commerce City, Colorodo on Saturday. The crane, a Grove RT770E was helping carry out routine maintenance on Saturday morning, with full boom extended working - on what looks like recently graded/excavated ground - when at least one of the outriggers sunk into the ground causing the crane to overturn. The ... more
We have no details of where and when it was taken, but the man has used a loading shovel, with a dozen ropy looking pallets on the loader’s fork attachment. As a safety precaution he has strapped them all together, not the best form of powered access! There is no driver in the machine cab – which might be a blessing given that the loader is standing on a newly cast raised drive. T ... more
