Advertising company loses scaffold appeal
THE advertising company found liable in an inquest into the death of Florentina Popa, who was killed when a scaffolding structure collapsed on her during a Linkin Park concert in 2012, was unsuccessful in its appeal bid to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
Popa, 33, died when the collapsed structure caused blunt force trauma injuries to her head at the Cape Town Stadium, and 19 other concert-goers were injured.
The temporary promotional scaffolding collapsed as a result of strong winds before the concert.
The court found that Vertex Scaffolding CC, Bothma Signs and Hirt & Carter (Pty) Ltd had been negligent and according to court documents, it was “common cause that there had been no structural engineer sign-off and that the towers had not been properly secured, causing them to dislodge and fall on concertgoers”.
The inadequacy of the safety measures came under the spotlight during court proceedings.
“Hirt & Carter proposed for the concerts large Lucozade branding on appropriate material wrapped around two towers to be constructed. Hirt & Carter had no experience pertaining to structures to which the branding could be attached and informed (Glaxosmithkline [GSK] which provided sponsorship) that they would approach a third party to erect the structures on which the branding would be placed accompanied by banners between the two towers.
GSK expected from Hirt & Carter an end-to-end service.
“Hirt & Carter approached Bothma Signs to make their concept a reality. Hirt & Carter knew that Bothma Signs was not a scaffolding expert and that this element would be outsourced to a third party.
“Bothma Signs in turn approached Vertex, a supplier of bespoke scaffolding solutions, and contracted Vertex to erect two scaffolding towers for the Cape Town stadium to which Bothma Signs would attach the wrapping printed by Hirt & Carter with a banner hung akin to a washing line between the two scaffolding structures.
“On the day of the concert, the notorious Cape winds began to blow and by 7pm its strength increased to such an extent that it blew over the scaffolding structures,” court documents read.
A key accounts manager at Hirt & Carter was said to have been repeatedly informed that “safety was important”.
“(The manager) knew there was a requirement that the scaffolding had to be signed off by a structural engineer.
“Furthermore, (he) was well aware that the wind was blowing on the day of the event to the extent that he had even purchased rods to secure the gazebos from being blown over.
“Importantly, he admitted when cross-examined that Hirt & Carter undertook to GSK to see to the safety aspect,” court documents read.
Judge Sulet Potterrill in her judgment said: “In my view, the magistrate cannot be faulted for concluding that the death of the deceased was brought about by an act or omission that prima facie amounts to or involves an offence on the part of Hirt & Carter.
“It was premised on a finding of negligence on the part of Hirt & Carter. There is, in my view, no discernible material error of law by the magistrate of the kind on which a review might be founded. Indeed, I can find no error at all.”
The appeal was dismissed. Enquiries to Hirt & Carter were not answered by deadline.