The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning companies that employees must have adequate training before undertaking work.

The warning follows HSE’s prosecution of the owner of a Rotherham scaffolding firm for not providing adequate training or equipment for his employees before instructing them to dismantle a scaffold at a private address in Sheffield.

On 12 January 2007, the employee and a colleague, neither of whom had been trained, were dismantling a scaffold and a badly supported scaffold board gave way. One of the workers fell six metres to the ground, suffering significant injuries to his foot and spine.

Philip Wolstenholme of Herringthorpe Lane, Rotherham, was summonsed to appear at Sheffield Magistrates Court on 7 May where he pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. He also pleaded guilty to contravening the requirements of a Prohibition Notice served by HSE after incidents in the previous year, an offence under Section 33(1) (g) of the HSW Act. The notice specifically prohibited him from allowing staff who had not been given proper training to erect or dismantle scaffolding. Due to the serious nature of the offences, the Magistrates referred the case to the Crown Court for sentencing.


Sheffield Crown Court yesterday (23 June) handed down a sentence of three months' imprisonment.

HSE Inspector Robert Cooper said: "Philip Wolstenholme wilfully disregarded advice given to him by HSE and the requirements of a prohibition notice served on him. In doing so he put the safety of his workers at great risk. In the time between the notice being served in March 2006 and the incident in January 2007, he had ample opportunity to train his employees. As a consequence they were not aware of the vital safe working practices that are necessary when doing scaffolding work. It is regrettable that an employee has suffered because the business owner ignored HSE's advice and enforcement and wasn't prepared to invest in proper training.

"The injuries suffered by the employee were very serious and could very easily have been fatal. This sad case highlights the need for employers to train people working for them, particularly in high risk work. The HSE will not tolerate employers who endanger the lives of their employees in this way."

(JM)