Man dies in scaffold plunge

6:48am Friday 4th May 2007

A housing worker plunged to his death after falling off scaffolding.

The 44-year-old Bradford man, an employee of Bradford Community Housing Trust, fell into the street in Bradford Road, Idle, while working at a modern terraced house.

The tragedy occurred opposite Idle Baptist Church, which was being used as a polling station for Bradford Council elections.

Police cordoned off the area at the end of Bradford Road by the junction with Ley Fleaks Road down to the High Street.

The Health and Safety Executive inspectors were called to the scene. An investigation into the circumstances of the man's death yesterday, which is not being treated as suspicious by police, was continuing today.

The Coroner has also been informed and an inquest is expected to be opened and adjourned pending the results of the HSE inquiry.

Kuldip Singh, postmaster of Idle Post Office in Bradford Road, said he went to help after a customer told him of the accident which occurred yesterday morning.

He said: "It is really sad. One of my customers came in and said she thought someone had fallen over and hurt themselves in the street. I came out because I thought it might be one of my customers, but I saw the man's body and I thought oh no'. It is hard for us to take in, I feel sorry for his family."

A concerned mother, who did not want to be named, said: "It's shocking, it was so busy along here and there have been people out voting."

Another resident, who lives in Bradford Road, said: "I heard from a couple of residents someone had fallen off the scaffolding, it is very upsetting. You just don't expect something so awful to happen on your street."

A spokesman for Bradford Community Housing Trust (BCHT) said: "We can confirm that there has been a fatality involving a 44-year-old male BCHT employee.

"BCHT is a caring employer. As the next of kin has only very recently been notified of the fatality it would be inappropriate for us to give out any further or personal information at this stage.'' In March this year 23-year-old construction worker Steven Allen died of head injuries following an accident on a Bradford Council building site.

Mr Allen, of Highfield Road, Keighley, had been working on creating a new waste recycling centre off Midland Road, Manningham.

He had been working for Skipton-based building and engineering company, J N Bentley, which he had joined as a 16-year-old apprentice The accident, believed to have involved lifting machinery, is also being investigated by the HSE.

Last year Bradford was named as having some of the most dangerous building sites in the UK after HSE spot checks found one in three to be unsafe. It resulted in work being stopped at 22 of the 61 sites inspected.