UK HSE to prosecute scaffolding lapses

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the UK will prosecute three companies and one individual for alleged violations of health and safety law.

The move follows its investigation into the fatal scaffolding collapse at the McAleer & Rushe construction site in Milton Keynes in April 2006. The accident, which occurred at a site of a Jury's Inn hotel, killed one worker and injured two others.

McAleer & Rushe Limited in Cookstown, Northern Ireland faces a total of six charges. The HSE is prosecuting the company as an employer and as principal contractor for the project.

Lee Smith Carpentry Limited in Romsey, Hampshire faces five charges as an employer, and NNM Scaffolding Limited in Leicester also faces five charges. John King, of Alicante, Spain faces four charges as a director of NNM Scaffolding Limited.

All parties will appear before a local Magistrates' Court on 13 February 2009.

HSE's announcement did not specify causes of the scaffolding collapse.