08.01.2007

Worker dies after ladder fall

A man died in hospital last night after falling 15ft while carrying out work on an empty building.

Phillip Platt, aged 59 from Barnard Castle, County Durham, died at about 8pm. He suffered severe head injuries and was unconscious when he was found at the scene of the accident, in Darlington's Victoria Road on Saturday morning.

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Scene of the accident

It is thought he had been carrying out work at the back of the former Recognition PR building when he slipped and fell.

One theory is that he had balanced a ladder on top of scaffolding which then slipped, knocking the scaffolding over and sending him plunging to the ground.

"He was working upstairs, and when I came out, he was on the floor and he was obviously badly hurt," said acting Inspector Gavin Musgrave, of Darlington police. "This man was working alone and it appears to be just a tragic accident. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been out to the scene."

The accident comes a few days after the HSE issued a warning about scaffold safety following a spate of accidents involving scaffold collapse.