Lorry Hits Scaffolding in Bristol
5th August 2021
An incident in July saw a lorry crash into scaffolding in Bristol, leading to road closures for both traffic and pedestrians.
Police officers attended the scene on the morning of the 13th July, closing roads surrounding the scaffolding whilst the truck was blocking the road, and to carry out crucial safety checks of the scaffold structure. Luckily no injuries were reported during the incident.
A spokesperson from the textile and laundry company for which the truck belonged stated:
“We are aware that an incident has occurred today in Bristol city centre. Our transport team are cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities.
We are pleased to report that our driver is safe and well and no one else was involved. We take incidents such as these extremely seriously and will be conducting a full and thorough internal investigation.”
It is an unfortunate but true fact that accidents involving vehicles crashing into scaffolds occur (and quite regularly at that). This can occur for any number of reasons, but the ultimate responsibility to ensure that scaffolds constructed in proximity with the highway are safe, rests jointly with the scaffolding company and the specifier, and any such activity must be carried out in accordance with the permissioning regime implemented by the Local Authority.
Learn more about the segregation of vehicles and scaffolds in our Toolbox Talk.