Businesses are being warned to take proper precautions with scaffolding following the successful prosecution of a Sheffield firm that ignored important advice and enforcement action by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Pullan Development (Selby) Ltd, of Broomhall Street in Sheffield, pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 in relation to poorly erected scaffolding at the Sheffield Ski Village construction site in Vale Road, Parkwood Springs.

Sheffield Crown Court heard that during an inspection by HSE on 13 October 2008, people were seen working on scaffolding that was extremely unsafe and posed a risk of serious, if not fatal, injuries due to the manner in which it was constructed.

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Three months earlier HSE had inspected the same site and ordered all work to be stopped, due to health and safety failings, including problems with the scaffolding.

The company was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs for breaching Regulation 8(a) and 8 (b) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

Following the hearing HSE Inspector David Bradley commented: "This company had failed to heed previous health and safety advice which is extremely disappointing. The scaffolding was so dangerous that people should never have been allowed to use it.

"Pullan Development (Selby) Ltd has received extensive advice from HSE going back several years. The company had also been served with 11 prohibition notices for failures to address health and safety issues on site. A recurring theme in this advice is the company's failure to address the risks to people working at height.

"The risks of working at height, and the controls required to avert these risks, particularly with scaffolding, are well documented. Falls from height remain the largest cause of fatal and serious injuries in the construction industry."

(CD/BMcC)