UK Construction and Law
A Belfast scaffolding firm is fined 20,000 pounds after a falling board killed a collection driver at the edge of the exclusion zone
By Staff Writer | 24 October 2026
A metal scaffold board fell about 8 metres during dismantling on Belfast's Lisburn Road and struck a 60-year-old driver who had come to collect the components. The company had not kept people away from the scaffold while it came down.
7 Towers Scaffolding Ltd, a company based in County Antrim, was fined 20,000 pounds at Laganside Crown Court on 22 October 2026. It had earlier pleaded guilty to a single breach of Article 4(1) of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978. The prosecution was brought by the Public Prosecution Service working with the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland.
What happened on the Lisburn Road
On 18 December 2024 a team of the company's employees was dismantling scaffolding at a construction site on the Lisburn Road in Belfast. Samuel Magill, 60, also employed by the company, worked as a collection driver and had arrived to collect the dismantled components. He parked on the pavement directly outside the site and walked towards the work area.
A metal scaffolding board about 2.4 metres long was dislodged from the top of the structure and fell about 8 metres. It struck Mr Magill on the head at the outer edge of the site's exclusion zone, next to the pavement. Paramedics attended and he was taken to hospital by ambulance. He remained there until he died on 5 February 2025.
The exclusion zone
The investigation found that the company had not sufficiently managed and controlled the exclusion zone around the scaffold during dismantling. There were no adequate measures to stop people who were not part of the dismantling team from getting close to the structure, and the driver reached the point where the board landed on foot.
This tragic incident was entirely preventable.
Kevin Campbell, Major Investigation Team Inspector, Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland
Mr Campbell said employers must have procedures that bring equipment and components down to the ground in a controlled way, and that clear work instructions must reach everyone involved. Where items may fall unintentionally, he said, there must be a clearly identified exclusion zone with measures that stop unauthorised people entering it. The regulator pointed to the guidance on health and safety in construction for working on and with scaffolding.
The person killed was not on the scaffold but a colleague arriving to collect it, at the edge of a zone that had not been controlled.
Striking a scaffold brings deliveries, collections and the public to the same patch of pavement as the dismantling team. Principal contractors and scaffold firms may want to check that the lift plan covers the collection vehicle and its driver, and who keeps the zone closed while boards are still coming down.