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TWO construction companies have been fined a total of £15,000 after admitting health and safety failings following a scaffolding collapse in Dartmouth.
Tower Scaffolding Ltd, based in Newton Abbot, was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 costs.
Mansell Construction Services, who bought the construction arm of Newton Abbot-based Dean and Dyball Civil Engineering, was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs.
Both companies pleaded guilty to two charges of contravening health and safety regulations.
The scaffolding collapse happened in December, 2005, during construction of a £15million project to build luxury homes and revamp a hotel at Dartmouth Marina.
At the time Dean and Dyball was principal contractor on the site. Its construction arm has since been taken over by Mansell Construction Services and, with it, liability for the court case.
South Devon magistrates sitting in Torquay heard 40 metres of scaffolding erected on the seaward side of the houses under construction collapsed during high winds on the night of December 2, 2005.
The court was told the collapse happened because not enough safety ties were in place. The ties used weren't suitable for the brickwork they were installed in and they had not been tested properly.
The court also heard subsequent inspections of the scaffold were not carried out adequately.
Stephen Covell, representing the Health and Safety Executive, said: "This was a significant scaffolding collapse.
"The scaffolding was attached to the building by ties embedded in the brickwork. A number of the ties failed and a large section collapsed."
Mr Covell added: "There were seven ties which had been deployed and possibly a further tie had been removed at some point prior to the collapse.
"With the weather as it was, seven or eight ties would not have made a material difference to what happened.
"In this sort of operation there should have been 24 ties."
Mark Owen, representing Tower Scaffolding, said the method of securing the scaffolding had been in place since February, 2005, without incident and had been installed by scaffolders with considerable experience.
He said the method was necessary because Dean and Dyball insisted the ties were strategically placed so there wasn't a discolouration in stone rendering when they were removed.
Andrew Brammer, representing Mansell Construction Services, said Dean and Dyball had checked with the sub-contractors providing the stone rendering that the brickwork was suitable before the ties were installed.
John Doyle, manager at Tower Scaffolding, helped dismantle the scaffolding after the collapse.
Speaking after the verdict, he said: "In 30 years of experience, it was the worst working day of my life. Having this hanging over us for the last five years has put a lot of strain on the company.
"Measures have now been put in place to make sure this never happens again, making Tower Scaffolding an even safer company."
Mansell Construction Services was unavailable for comment afterwards.
Speaking after the verdict Jonathan Harris, Health and Safety Executive construction inspector, said: "There was a totally avoidable collapse.
"By shear chance there were no fatal or serious injuries caused because there wasn't anyone on site when the structure collapsed."
Source: This Is South Devon
Tower Scaffolding Ltd, based in Newton Abbot, was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £2,000 costs.
Mansell Construction Services, who bought the construction arm of Newton Abbot-based Dean and Dyball Civil Engineering, was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs.
Both companies pleaded guilty to two charges of contravening health and safety regulations.
The scaffolding collapse happened in December, 2005, during construction of a £15million project to build luxury homes and revamp a hotel at Dartmouth Marina.
At the time Dean and Dyball was principal contractor on the site. Its construction arm has since been taken over by Mansell Construction Services and, with it, liability for the court case.
South Devon magistrates sitting in Torquay heard 40 metres of scaffolding erected on the seaward side of the houses under construction collapsed during high winds on the night of December 2, 2005.
The court was told the collapse happened because not enough safety ties were in place. The ties used weren't suitable for the brickwork they were installed in and they had not been tested properly.
The court also heard subsequent inspections of the scaffold were not carried out adequately.
Stephen Covell, representing the Health and Safety Executive, said: "This was a significant scaffolding collapse.
"The scaffolding was attached to the building by ties embedded in the brickwork. A number of the ties failed and a large section collapsed."
Mr Covell added: "There were seven ties which had been deployed and possibly a further tie had been removed at some point prior to the collapse.
"With the weather as it was, seven or eight ties would not have made a material difference to what happened.
"In this sort of operation there should have been 24 ties."
Mark Owen, representing Tower Scaffolding, said the method of securing the scaffolding had been in place since February, 2005, without incident and had been installed by scaffolders with considerable experience.
He said the method was necessary because Dean and Dyball insisted the ties were strategically placed so there wasn't a discolouration in stone rendering when they were removed.
Andrew Brammer, representing Mansell Construction Services, said Dean and Dyball had checked with the sub-contractors providing the stone rendering that the brickwork was suitable before the ties were installed.
John Doyle, manager at Tower Scaffolding, helped dismantle the scaffolding after the collapse.
Speaking after the verdict, he said: "In 30 years of experience, it was the worst working day of my life. Having this hanging over us for the last five years has put a lot of strain on the company.
"Measures have now been put in place to make sure this never happens again, making Tower Scaffolding an even safer company."
Mansell Construction Services was unavailable for comment afterwards.
Speaking after the verdict Jonathan Harris, Health and Safety Executive construction inspector, said: "There was a totally avoidable collapse.
"By shear chance there were no fatal or serious injuries caused because there wasn't anyone on site when the structure collapsed."
Source: This Is South Devon