Inspectors crack down on construction sites

THE Health & Safety Executive has begun a month-long programme of unnanounced visits on construction sites in a bid to clamp down on unsafe working practices.

The agency said that it was targeting sites in a bid to reduce the number of accidents taking place at construction sites in the region. It said that more than 1,000 workers were injured on sites in the region last year and eight people died.

It is targeting refurbishment and repair schemes, as four of the eight deaths which took place last year were on building repair projects.

The executive said that its inspections would run until March 11 to check if regulations on working at height, site maintenance and exposure to asbestos are being observed. It added that during a similar exercise last year, 100 of the 343 sites it visited failed safety inspections.

Wayne Crumpton, HSE’s Principal Inspector for Construction, said: “This will be the fifth year that we have run the inspection initiative and we expect that they’ll be examples of both good and bad practice – those where employers are taking all the measures they can to protect their workers, and those where safety is way down the list of priorities.

“A lax attitude to health and safety in one of Britain’s more dangerous industries is not acceptable, especially when many of the incidents are completely avoidable.

“As we’ve demonstrated in previous years, we will not hesitate to take action if we find poor practice that is putting the lives of workers at risk.”