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Man fell to death from faulty scaffolding (From Ledbury Reporter)
A MAN fell to his death from “faulty” scaffolding that was not properly inspected, an inquest heard this week.
Gordon Docherty was a welder for I.C. Electrical and was contracted to carry out work at Universal Beverages Ltd (UBL) in Ledbury.
But tragedy struck when the 51-year-old fell from 10 metres.
He landed on his head and was declared dead as soon as paramedics arrived on October 1, 2009.
The inquest at Hereford Town Hall this week heard that John Boden inspected the scaffolding prior to the start of his shift on the morning of Mr Docherty’s death but admitted that he carried out the 15-minute inspection at ground level.
“I have been on a course since and now know that if you start at the bottom and work the way up, it will take about an hour and a half,” he said.
“I accept that I wasn’t properly qualified to carry out the job.”
Christopher Edge, contract manager for Erector Scaffolding, said he noticed a number of defects when he inspected the scaffolding following Mr Docherty’s death, including a toe board being removed and gaps “large enough for someone to fall through”.
Further investigations showed that the toe board was not clipped properly to the scaffolding.
“John Boden was certified to be an advanced scaffolder so I assume he was by his certificate,” said Mr Edge. “I did not employ him.”
The inquest heard that Mr Docherty had asked his colleague Peter Harrison if he could help pass him a pipe. Mr Harrison said that, because of the pipe’s awkward shape, they decided that the best way to get it up was for it to be attached to rope and for it to be fed up to Mr Docherty via a pulley.
But, shortly afterwards Mr Harrison heard a scream and saw Mr Docherty fall to his death.
Mr Harrison added that Mr Docherty was not struggling in any way in feeding the rope, while Ryan Nicholas, who also witnessed the fall, said he did not see anything dangerous that could have led to the death.
A jury took 20 minutes to reach a verdict of accidental death.
After the inquest, Jackie Docherty said her former husband, who was from Bristol, had been let down by health and safety breaches. “It is tragic that a man goes to work and ends with him losing his life,” she said. “There is now a huge gap in our lives.”
Mr Docherty is also survived by his four children: Raith, 23, Josh, 21, Aaron,18 and Imogen, 11.
A MAN fell to his death from “faulty” scaffolding that was not properly inspected, an inquest heard this week.
Gordon Docherty was a welder for I.C. Electrical and was contracted to carry out work at Universal Beverages Ltd (UBL) in Ledbury.
But tragedy struck when the 51-year-old fell from 10 metres.
He landed on his head and was declared dead as soon as paramedics arrived on October 1, 2009.
The inquest at Hereford Town Hall this week heard that John Boden inspected the scaffolding prior to the start of his shift on the morning of Mr Docherty’s death but admitted that he carried out the 15-minute inspection at ground level.
“I have been on a course since and now know that if you start at the bottom and work the way up, it will take about an hour and a half,” he said.
“I accept that I wasn’t properly qualified to carry out the job.”
Christopher Edge, contract manager for Erector Scaffolding, said he noticed a number of defects when he inspected the scaffolding following Mr Docherty’s death, including a toe board being removed and gaps “large enough for someone to fall through”.
Further investigations showed that the toe board was not clipped properly to the scaffolding.
“John Boden was certified to be an advanced scaffolder so I assume he was by his certificate,” said Mr Edge. “I did not employ him.”
The inquest heard that Mr Docherty had asked his colleague Peter Harrison if he could help pass him a pipe. Mr Harrison said that, because of the pipe’s awkward shape, they decided that the best way to get it up was for it to be attached to rope and for it to be fed up to Mr Docherty via a pulley.
But, shortly afterwards Mr Harrison heard a scream and saw Mr Docherty fall to his death.
Mr Harrison added that Mr Docherty was not struggling in any way in feeding the rope, while Ryan Nicholas, who also witnessed the fall, said he did not see anything dangerous that could have led to the death.
A jury took 20 minutes to reach a verdict of accidental death.
After the inquest, Jackie Docherty said her former husband, who was from Bristol, had been let down by health and safety breaches. “It is tragic that a man goes to work and ends with him losing his life,” she said. “There is now a huge gap in our lives.”
Mr Docherty is also survived by his four children: Raith, 23, Josh, 21, Aaron,18 and Imogen, 11.
