HSE fines company after scaffold collapse at school

A scaffolding company has been fined after scaffolding it had erected collapsed onto a neighbouring primary school.

Cardiff Magistrates’ Court heard Swain Scaffolding Limited had erected scaffolding 7m high and 8m long at the gable end of a residential property in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan. On 5 May 2017, the scaffold collapsed, landing on a single-storey roof above the playground of a neighbouring school.

At that time, a group of nursery children were in the playground just a few metres away. Minutes before the collapse, the playground had been full of children playing.

The HSE’s investigation found the scaffolding was neither designed nor installed to withstand foreseeable loads, and it was not tied to the adjacent building, nor did it have adequate buttressing or rakers – it was essentially a freestanding structure. The investigation found that it was almost inevitable that the scaffolding would collapse, even in unremarkable weather conditions.

Swain Scaffolding Limited of Heol Y Nant, Rhiwbina, Cardiff, was found guilty of breaching Regulation 19(2) of the Construction Design and Management Regulations and was fined £24,000 and ordered to pay £3,452.50 in costs. FIND OUT MORE www.hse.gov.uk

Access and scaffolding giant BrandSafway, which owns SGB, has acquired Lyndon Scaffolding and merged it with SGB to create Lyndon SGB by BrandSafway.

Lyndon Scaffolding was established in 1968 and has grown to become one of the largest independent UK scaffolding contractors with sales of £50m and more than 600 employees, offering a full range of tube and fitting and system scaffolding, and access solutions. Lyndon Scaffolding operates from locations in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Barry, Wales, with Taylor’s Hoists based in Duxford.

The company has worked on many highprofile contracts across the UK and was the largest scaffolding supplier to Carillon including work on the failed contractor’s most high-profile projects: the £353m Midland Metropolitan and the £335m Royal Liverpool hospitals.

Dave Witsken, president of Energy and Industrial for BrandSafway, said: “This is an exciting combination. It allows us to bring together a full range of scaffolding solutions plus deliver excellence in a suite of other access technologies for our customers.

“By combining the assets, expertise and reputation of Lyndon Scaffolding with SGB, we will be able to expand our service solutions in key major cities in the UK, broaden our overall footprint and accelerate our growth.”

FIND OUT MORE www.lyndon-sgb.co.uk