Contractor Westdale Services Limited was fined £160,000 after a 12-year-old boy slipped off a scaffold ladder on an inadequately guarded site. On 6th May 2017, two boys were able to climb the rungs of a ladder within scaffolding erected by Westdale Services by placing their feet either side of a ladder guard that did not cover the rungs completely. One boy climbed to the top platform of the scaffold and climbed the uppermost ladder to a height of approximately 10 metres. The ladder slipped, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. He sustained life-changing injuries requiring multiple operations.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/ladders-and-scaffold-security.htm
CDM 2015
Good order and site security
18.—(1) Each part of a construction site must, so far as is reasonably practicable, be kept in good order and those parts in which construction work is being carried out must be kept in a reasonable state of cleanliness.
(2) Where necessary in the interests of health and safety, a construction site must, so far as is reasonably practicable, and in accordance with the level of risk posed, comply with either or both of the following—
(a) have its perimeter identified by suitable signs and be arranged so that its extent is readily identifiable; or
(b) be fenced off.
(3) No timber or other material with projecting nails (or similar sharp object) must—
(a) be used in any construction work; or
(b) be allowed to remain in any place, if the nails (or similar sharp object) may be a source of danger to any person.
