A strong gust of wind caused 25-foot high scaffolding to completely collapse on a construction site yesterday.

No one was injured in the industrial accident which took place at Sir John Swan's Atlantis House on Parliament and Victoria Streets shortly after 2 p.m.

Government Health and Safety Officer, Harry Powell said: "Alan Burland of BCM McAlpine called me right away and explained what happened," he said.

The scaffolding fell as protective netting erected to catch any falling bits of debris, did not have enough venting to allow strong wind to pass through it.

As a result the material acted like a sail when a strong wind got behind it, breaking one of the principal ties of the net and thus bringing the 40 to 45 feet wide section of scaffolding down.

The netting and scaffolding actually fell onto the roof of the adjacent DeCuoto and Dunstan Building on Victoria Street but caused no real damage there. The loud noise alarmed several tenants in the building who came out into the street to find out what had happened.

Mr. Burland said that there was little in the way of debris in the netting when it fell. "We have gone to great lengths to keep everything clean," he said. "One can of paint material was in there and we vacuumed it up."

He praised the efforts of his workmen and sub contractors who he said remained on the site and cleaned up in the rain.

By 4 p.m. all had been cleared up.

"We did damage to two sky lights and an air conditioning unit at the site," he said. "We notified the health and safety officer, the owner of the DeCouto & Dunstan building and the insurance company right away."

Work is slated to resume as normal today and a new net erected with bigger venting pockets and additional ties to secure it.

Mr. Powell said he would be investigating the incident today.

"BCM McAlpine are a very safety conscious company," he said. "They've done the proper thing and notified us. It definitely is a good mark in their book. I like to be proactive they need to tell me what they are going to do to prevent a re-occurrence. Accidents have their good side: You can learn from them."

Mr. Powell also said that the occurrence was not that unusual and he had seen several similar cases at construction sites in Canada.