plasterboards

Builder crushed by falling pile of plasterboards

The director of a construction company has been sentenced after a subcontractor suffered serious injuries when a stack of plasterboards fell on him at a site in Surrey.

Brighton Magistrates’ Court heard that on 12 April 2019, subcontractors were moving sheets of plasterboard weighing 32kg each from the ground floor to the second floor of a house undergoing refurbishment.

As there was no staircase, they were stacking plasterboard against an unsecured ladder and sliding them to the floor above.

During the process, the plasterboards fell onto the worker and fractured his pelvis.

An HSE investigation found there wasn’t a safe system of work in place and the workers had inadequate supervision.

Stairwell openings were unguarded and partially spanned with scaffold boards resting on insecure scaffold poles, creating a significant fall risk.

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The CIP Construction H&S Manual contains guidance on the safe handling of plasterboard that could help companies avoid unfortunate accidents like this.

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