Stirling Stone labourer James Kelly was working on the third level of a loading tower of scaffolding that had been erected for construction work at the Glasgow Academy on Colebrook Street. Stirling Stone had been contracted as stonemasons on the site by Robertson Construction Central Ltd.
Kelly fell to the ground from the scaffold loading tower platform on 26 April 2007 and died later from his injuries. A single guard rail was found on the ground close to where he was discovered.
Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) discovered that there was no safe system of work in place for loading materials onto the loading tower, nor had suitable assessment of the risks involved been made. The investigation also revealed that the loading tower did not have sufficient guard rails and toe boards and that neither company had ensured that the tower and access scaffolding was properly inspected on a regular basis.
Both companies had been found guilty of health and safety breaches at an earlier trial before the fines were imposed at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Tuesday. Robertson Construction Central of Perimeter Road, Elgin, Moray, was fined £200,000 for breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc 1974 Act and Stirling Stone was fined £200,000 for breaching Section 2(1).
HSE inspector for construction John Shelton said that what happened was entirely preventable and would not have happened if the proper steps had been taken. "Loading up operations at scaffold loading towers are repeated on construction sites across Scotland probably thousands of times a day. There is no excuse for the contractors not to have agreed procedures as to how this work was to be done and ensured that this routine work was carried out safely.
"Where vital edge protection is removed temporarily to allow loading up to take place steps must be taken to ensure persons cannot fall during that work."
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