A scaffolding company has been fined £30,000 after failing to ensure a tower scaffold was constructed correctly.
The HSE identified serious issues with a scaffold at a block of flats in Rice Hey Road, Merseyside, including a failure to follow assembly instructions during its erection.
Workers climbed the rungs of the scaffold to access it instead of using a proprietary ladder.
The HSE investigation was prompted after the regulator was notified of the death of AIM Access Solutions Ltd employee Robert Duffy.
The 45-year-old died in hospital on 23 May 2021, three days after sustaining serious injuries while working at the site on Rice Hey Road.
The prosecution of AIM Access Solutions Ltd, of Manorside Gores Road, Knowsley Industrial Park, Kirkby, was not brought on the grounds that the incident was causative of Duffy’s death.
The firm pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It was fined £30,800 and ordered to pay £5,040.75 in costs at Wirral Magistrates’ Court on 27 February 2025.
