A scaffolding company already warned once by safety inspectors put up a tower on Putney High Street that blew over in high winds, seriously injuring two people. It has taken three years, and a combined fine of £30,460, to hold the firm to account.
The mobile tower scaffold was erected outside 153-159 Putney High Street – where Black Sheep Coffee and Itsu are – on 19 July 2023 by Add Prop Limited, the firm in charge of converting the commercial building into flats. The tower was assembled incorrectly, then covered in sheeting. In the wind, the sheeting acted like a sail. The structure toppled, struck two members of the public and trapped them, leaving both with serious injuries.
The Health and Safety Executive found the tower had not been put up or inspected by properly trained, competent people, and had not followed the manufacturer’s instructions or standard industry guidance. There were also inadequate measures to keep pedestrians away from the work.
The company had already been served a Prohibition Notice, an order to stop unsafe work immediately, over a separate case of unsafe tower-scaffold work at another site before the Putney incident happened. Council records show Add Prop Limited had been named as the project’s agent on the Putney High Street conversion since 2022, over a year before the collapse. A search of Wandsworth’s planning records finds no other application naming the company; this appears to be its only known involvement with the council.
Following a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Add Prop Limited was found guilty of breaching construction safety regulations and fined £20,000, plus £7,000 in costs. Sole director Atif Riaz, who was on site that day as both project manager and site supervisor, was separately found guilty and fined £1,730, plus £1,730 in costs, under the Health and Safety at Work Act. HSE found him personally negligent in both of his roles.
HSE Inspector Daniel Burton said the public have a right to expect scaffolding to be safe. “The risks associated with scaffold towers and wind loading are well known within the construction industry,” he said. “This kind of incident simply should not happen.”
The decision and fine was published on Friday, three years after the incident. HSE has not given a reason for the delay: other recent HSE cases show serious-injury prosecutions can conclude faster: a Liverpool fencing contractor whose worker was burned by a live cable took two years to reach a fine, and a paralysis case at a Siemens Gamesa site in Hull took nearly two years.
Add Prop Limited’s registered office is in Peckham.
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