by Mark Blacklock

A SCAFFOLDING boss who callously let workers dice with death 50ft above a busy street got a jail sentence after a court watched the high-rise horror show.

A startled passer-by took smartphone snaps and video of men risking their lives and handed them to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

And when the tape was played to magistrates on Thursday they handed Greg Pearson two 10-week jail terms, suspended for a year.

They heard that when HSE inspectors twice visited the site on Tavistock Street, central London, he ignored them, even when served with a prohibition notice ordering a halt.

Workers can be seen on the video walking along planks balanced loosely across metal poles with nothing to stop equipment falling onto people below.

Westminster magistrates also ordered the scaffolder — who traded as Pearsons Scaffolding — to pay £280 costs after the 33-year-old from South Street, Enfield, admitted two breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

HSE inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers said afterwards: “Greg Pearson repeatedly put the lives of other workers and members of the public at risk.

“He blatantly disregarded all warnings and enforcement action taken against him and it was just good fortune that no-one was killed.”

He thanked the passer-by and other members of the public who raised the alarm.

“It’s vital that law-abiding scaffolders have confidence they will not lose work to others who underquote them because they take shortcuts at the expense of safety,” Mr Verrall-Withers said.

“This case should send a message to other scaffolders that courts will sentence robustly even when the reckless working practices have thankfully not resulted in serious injuries or fatalities.”