Fit-out contractor fined after an employee suffered multiple fractures

A fit-out contractor has been fined because an employee suffered multiple fractures after falling fifteen feet from scaffolding.

Manchester Magistrates Court heard on 24 October 2019, an employee of TA Knox Shopfitters Ltd was working from a tower scaffold at the front of the Footasylum Store in the Trafford Centre, Manchester. When the scaffold moved, it threw him off balance.

Subsequently, he fell back against the safety rail of the scaffold. As a result, the scaffold gave way and he fell fifteen feet to the ground. The employee suffered ten fractured ribs, a fractured shoulder, and a collapsed lung.

An HSE investigation found that the fit-out contractor had not fixed the safety rail in place correctly, causing it to give way when the employee fell against it. It also found that the tower scaffold had not been erected by somebody with the appropriate skills, knowledge, and training.

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