SECURITY arrangements for construction work have been stepped up at the Randolph Hotel where a man fell four storeys after scaling scaffolding.

Workers were back on site yesterday at the Beaumont Street hotel where a £1.5m stonework restoration project is being carried out.

UPDATE: Health and Safety Executive investigate fall from scaffolding at Randolph Hotel

The man in his 20s suffered potentially life-threatening injuries to his head and chest and remains in the John Radcliffe Hospital.

The alarm was raised before 1am on Sunday and police and firefighters attended but the climber was not found until about 3am, by a member of hotel staff.

READ AGAIN: Randolph scaffolding horror: how could it have happened?

A spokesman for Macdonald Hotels and Resorts said: “We have worked with our contractor to enhance protection to the scaffolding and provide additional night security until all work is completed.”

Firefighters went onto the scaffolding but the man was not discovered until about 3am.

Staff from Kidlington-based K Scaffolding were working on site yesterday morning at ground-floor level, and at the top of the scaffolding.

Oxford Mail:

The scaffolding network looked secure, with the lowest level more than 6ft above the ground, and could only be accessed from an internal walkway, which appeared to have a lockable door.

All hoarding reaches above 6ft but there is a bus stop immediately next to the bottom of the structure.

A member of staff at K Scaffolding’s office said the firm was working for a ‘main contractor’ but construction workers on site declined to comment.

Thames Valley Police has not identified the climber.

Oxford Mail:

Force spokesman Gareth Ford-Lloyd said: “The condition or the man remains the same and the investigation is ongoing.”

Staff at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were unable to provide further details on the man’s condition.

TVP alerted the ambulance service at 3.05am as soon as the man was found. Oxfordshire Fire Service said the incident was ‘concluded’ at 4.19am. Crews attended from Rewley Road and and a drone was used.

The Oxford Mail asked South Central Ambulance Service if an ambulance should have been called as soon as police were alerted to a suspected incident. Spokesman David Gallagher said: “The type of situations we have ambulances on standby include at fires where there are people reported as being in the building, or where a person is threatening to harm themselves (e.g. by jumping from a building or bridge) but has not yet done so.”

Work started in the autumn to renovate the hotel’s Beaumont Street frontage and earlier this year work started in Magdalen Street.