The incident happened on 19th July 2023 in Putney when a team for Add Prop Limited were assembling a mobile tower scaffold under supervision of the company’s sole director Atif Riaz.

The scaffold tower, which had been assembled incorrectly with inadequate measures to separate it from members of the public, was subsequently covered in sheeting.

The sheeting acted as a sail in windy conditions, causing the tower scaffold to overturn. The structure struck and trapped two members of the public, resulting in serious injuries.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Add Prop Limited had failed to ensure the temporary structure was designed, installed and maintained so that it could withstand foreseeable loads, including those created by wind acting on the sheeting.

The company had previously been served with a prohibition notice in relation to unsafe work involving a tower scaffold at another site.

HSE also found that the tower scaffold had neither been assembled nor inspected by adequately trained and competent persons. It had not been erected in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions or established industry guidance.

•   The Finance Professional Show 2025: The Video
•   Construction remains deadliest sector
•   Firm fined after bricklayer suffers life-changing injuries

HSE further found that Riaz had been negligent in his role as both sole director and project manager. Despite the well-known risks associated with wind loading on scaffold structures, neither the company nor Riaz took adequate account of those risks before deciding to sheet the scaffold.

Add Prop Limited was found guilty of breaching the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and fined £20,000 as well as ordered to pay £7,000 in costs. Riaz was found guilty of an offence under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. He was fined £1,730 and ordered to pay £1,730 in costs.

“In this case, two members of the public suffered serious injuries when a scaffold tower overturned on a busy high street,” said HSE inspector Daniel Burton.

“The risks associated with scaffold towers and wind loading are well known within the construction industry — this kind of incident simply should not happen.

“The fines imposed on Add Prop Limited and Atif Riaz should underline to everyone in the construction industry that the courts, and HSE, take failures to follow health and safety requirements extremely seriously.”

The HSE prosecution was brought by enforcement lawyer Gemma Zakrzewski and paralegal officer Melissa Wardle.