MK collapse: was the scaffolding overloaded?

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is turning its attention to the possibility that overloading caused the Milton Keynes scaffolding collapse, which has now claimed the life of one worker – two more remain in a critical condition.

The workers were injured when 14 storeys of scaffolding collapsed last Tuesday during the construction of the £23m, 279-bedroom Jury’s Inn hotel in the city centre. The project’s developer/contractor is McAleer & Rushe from Northern Ireland.

On Friday, it was confirmed that one of the three workers injured in the accident, 49-year-old John Robinson – an employee of Hampshire-based cladding firm LSC – had died in hospital.

The site remained shut over Easter, and the HSE, which is now leading the investigation from the police, was due to recommence investigations at the site yesterday (Wednesday).

But at the same time CJ understands that a meeting with the project team was scheduled to take place at the HSE’s London headquarters to discuss claims that the scaffolding, which had been up for seven months, had been overloaded by ceramic granite cladding tiles – believed to weigh around 12kg each on average.

The HSE is thought to be weighing the tiles, estimating how many had been on the scaffolding at the time of the collapse, to see whether there is any causal relationship.

With grim irony, the scaffolding, made up of around 25,000 boards, was due to have been decommissioned on Good Friday when the cladding works by LSC were due to finish.

Contrary to reports, North Notts Scaffolding (NNS) said it was not responsible for erecting the scaffold; it only supplied the labour force of 10 scaffolders.

CJ has learnt that the scaffold was erected by another Mansfield scaffolding firm, Bensam, which is not a member of the National Access & Scaffolding Confederation. Bensam was unavailable for comment.

But NNS senior estimator Roy Rogers told CJ: “It is my opinion that the scaffolding was overloaded. The scaffolding has been up for seven months and if you look at the collapse, it has gone down on one side, rather than coming completely away from the building.”

LSC commercial director Martin Leekblade categorically denied that the scaffolding was overloaded. “The collapse had nothing to do with overloading. There were only around 20 tiles on the whole scaffold when the incident happened. We had a delivery of 140 tiles in the morning, which never made it on to the scaffold. A second delivery of 140 tiles was turned away following the incident.”

An HSE spokeswoman was unable to comment on the investigation, but confirmed that the erection of scaffolding and its management would form part of its enquiries.

Client Jurys Doyle Hotel Group told CJ it has worked with McAleer & Rushe on several projects without incident.

In a statement, Eamon Laverty, managing director of McAleer & Rushe, said: “Any speculation as to the cause of the accident is unhelpful at this stage. We are assisting the HSE fully with its investigation into the accident, in which case it would be inappropriate to comment until this investigation is concluded.”