Scaffolding issues next door

mysk_girl

I'll try to keep this brief,

Next door are renovating the house, including roofing works. They asked if we would mind scaffolding on our land for a bit, and we said no problem initially. However, we asked for it to be netted to prevent building materials falling onto our land as obviously this is a serious risk to anyone in the garden.

They haven't netted it, despite repeated requests, and there are bits of brick, stone and slate all over that part of the garden.

Do I have the right to insist they remove it or net it properly and how would I enforce this? It needs to be extended next week to allow access for the full roof replacement, and currently I'm minded to refuse.

I am a construction professional (structural engineer) but have no idea how to approach what, to me, seem cowboy builders as I deal with commercial scale projects where health & safety is paramount and a situation like this would never occur, or would be rectified at the first time of asking.

We have a very large garden, so I'm not worried about the amount of land the scaffolding occupies, more the risk to people in the garden. I do have small children who wouldn't know to stay away from the area, so I'm having to keep them in or supervise them.

Every time I speak to them, or my husband does, they promise the earth and nothing happens.

faerie~spangles

Given that you're not worried about the amount of your garden the neighbours may use for the scaffolding and are therefore being very reasonable.

I suggest you:

Remind the neighbour in writing of your concern from an H&S perspective.

Feign an incident using a stuffed toy and some of the debris that is already in your garden.

Demand that the scaffolding is removed from your property.

cootuk

Would this come under providing a safe working environment for 3rd parties affected by a companies operations under basic H&S law.

Have you spoken to the builders themselves or just your neighbours?
Who's going to clear up the mess they leave?

DVardysShadow

Don't settle for a simple promise - put a time frame on it. And when the promise is broken have them remove their stuff.

CKhalvashi

I'm in agreement with the above.

We had part of the roof done about 3 years ago, and neighbours requested netting (which I completely forgot about 2 months later)

Another quick word, and it was up within 2 hours. I go outside to smoke when the kids are at home, so netting is important for reasons of this, too.

CK

mysk_girl

I've spoken to both the owner (who isn't living there currently, but is local) and the builder - who is his Dad...

They keep saying its the scaffolders fault, and they aren't responding to calls to come fix it - but they've done nothing to help the situation and this morning there is even more crap there as we had wind overnight.

I just do not want a weekend knowing that stuff might fall at any time.

Will have another talk today which will be "net it by COP today or get it off my land and forget about any more access"

I'm also 7 months pregnant and very hormonal, so may get husband to do this!

ljonski

In that case ,report it to HSE

warmhands.coldheart

mysk_girl wrote: »

They keep saying its the scaffolders fault, and they aren't responding to calls to come fix it -

But they are still happy to use the scaffolding causing a danger to you and your family..

mysk_girl wrote: »

I'm also 7 months pregnant and very hormonal, so may get husband to do this!

Even more reason for you to talk to them to... lay it on thick :rotfl:
Say you'll have no option but to report it to Helkth and safety and have the scaffolding removed from your property.

mysk_girl

HSE will do very little apparently as its all on private land, no members of public involved. Have spoken to building control who also said they are powerless in this situation. Ended up on phone to hubby and got quite upset about it so he has gone home at lunch to try and make sure that something is done so it is secure over the weekend. The scaffolders are on holiday apparently and will be back on Monday. Am very leery about allowing further scaffolding though, we will see how it looks when I get home today about 3.30.

ljonski

You are a member of the public and it appears that debris is being rained down on you. I would make sure a complaint to HSe is logged at the very least . Contact your local Councilor and stress to them the danger to you and your family.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/workplace-complaints.htm

mysk_girl

Well, they've swept it off and cleared the roof. As far as I can see, there is nothing there that can fall into the garden, so we will be OK until Monday. Then the scaffolder is coming to net and put kickboards on, they've also confirmed that any additional scaffold will be netted from the start. OH reckons we should accept this and let them do it as fast as possible and get out of our garden!

Having calmed down a bit, I guess he's got a point... Watch this space on Monday! I had a good look at what's currently there and it looks secure with all loose debris removed.

Sigh, I hate getting worked up like this...