Scaffolding is a familiar sight across towns and cities, used on everything from modest home renovations to large-scale commercial developments. It’s an essential part of many construction projects, with thousands of workers relying on it every day, so commonplace that its dangers can easily be underestimated.
Between 2020 and 2025, an average of 40 workers lost their lives each year in construction-related accidents. Alarmingly, over half (53%) of these deaths were caused by falls from height.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reports that work at height remains one of the leading causes of workplace injury and death.
A fatal fall from just six feet
One of the most sobering examples is the death of Mr Iftikhar Ahmed Mughal in 2022, which emphasises that accidents need not happen from a great height to be deadly.
Mr Mughal was working on an unguarded scaffolding platform when he fell. Although the height was only six feet, it was enough for Mr Mughal to suffer a catastrophic head injury. He sadly died 4 days after the accident.
His employer, WH Metals Limited, pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £45,000. The company’s director was also personally prosecuted and received a 26-week custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months.
This case highlights how safety measures are of upmost importance and must be upheld.
Non-fatal doesn’t mean minor
In the construction industry, 33% of non-fatal accidents are reported to be due to falls from a height, with a further 30% being due to slips, trips or falls from the same level.
Understanding and managing construction hazards is crucial to promoting safer working practices and reducing the risk of accidents. When safety measures are ignored, the consequences can be severe, even when a worker survives. As a result, companies are increasingly being held to account and fined for breaching their health and safety obligations.
One such company is Mitie Tilley Roofing Ltd who received a £306,000 fine after a 24-year-old labourer fell 20 feet through a skylight onto his back, in Swansea in 2019. He fractured his femur and the fall left him with long-term health complications. It was found that Mitie “failed to plan, manage and monitor the work undertaken by RM Scaffolding” and was therefore in breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. RM Scaffolding had failed to plan the works properly and provide the appropriate fall protection, which resulted in this foreseeable workplace accident.
Legal consequences beyond regulatory fines
Prosecutions and fines are only part of the picture. Companies may also be held accountable through a personal injury claim, which will look to assist the injured worker claim compensation for any injury caused by their employer’s negligence.
