This is the ‘breathtakingly stupid’ act which saw a roof worker sentenced to six months in prison .
David Mulholland was pictured balancing nearly 90 feet in the air on scaffolding in Manchester city centre.
The 25-year-old was working to hammer steel beams into position at the King Street townhouse, which has now opened as a hotel.
Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard that on a rainy January 21, last year, Mulholland was photographed by horrified office workers who took the picture from their window, then contacted the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) .
The court was told that Mulholland ‘didn’t realise how stupid he was being until he saw the picture’, the Manchester Evening News reported .
He said that the building project was three weeks behind, and that instead of asking the on-site scaffolder to make the area safe he went ahead to do the job quicker.
Investigators from the HSE rushed to the site and questioned Mulholland, who admitted that he had climbed up to complete the job.
Mulholland was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months, and fined £1,400.
He must also pay costs of £2,939.18 and a victim surcharge of £85.
In what the HSE have described as an ‘unusual’ case, two roofers, Aaron Hepworth and Jake Clarke, were also caught flouting health and safety on the same building three months later, and were fined last week after admitting one charge each of contravening health and safety regulations.
Addressing Mulholland at Monday’s hearing, district judge Nicholas Sanders said: “What you were doing was breathtakingly stupid.
“It defies description that you should be doing what you were doing without any protective measures. You chose to turn a blind eye to the fairly obvious risks that existed.
“The only person who was really put at risk in this case was you.”
Mulholland, of Victoria Road, Walton le Dale, Preston, pleaded guilty to one charge of contravening a health and safety regulation.
After the case, HSE inspector Matt Greenly said: “Never before in my career as an HSE Inspector have I seen such a staggering disregard for personal safety as is demonstrated by the photograph of Mr Mulholland balancing on scaffold tubes in the rain.
“It is a matter of pure luck that no-one was injured or killed by working at height in the manner seen in this image provided by a member of the public.
“I would like to thank the person who reported their concern to us as they have been instrumental in saving the lives of Mr Mulholland and arguably anyone below him at that time.”