27.06.2006

Unsafe work at height still rife in UK

On Monday 19 June Construction inspectors from the UK Health and Safety Executive visited 19 sites in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes areas, and instructed work to be stopped on 17 occasions because people were at risk of falling and sustaining serious, if not fatal, injuries.

Recurring problems encountered on the sites were the use of incomplete scaffolding, and the failure to provide scaffolding at all on some sites when required. On a number of sites employees were at risk of falling through fragile material such as roof lights and suspended ceilings.

The focus of the “initiative” was on smaller contractors typically engaged in refurbishment and maintenance work on projects such as schools, small industrial units and domestic properties, rather than the larger construction projects already required to notify their work to the HSE.

It was designed to coincide with the HSE’S national campaign - Height Aware - which aims to reduce the number of fatal and major injuries from falls at work.

HSE Inspector Dave Bradley, who was involved in the inspections, commented:

"I am both disappointed and disturbed at the amount of work inspectors had to stop because there was a clear risk to people's safety.

"Falls from height continue to be the most common cause of injuries to people at work with, 53 deaths and almost 3800 serious injuries occurring in 2004/05 alone. It is essential that all work at height is properly planned to ensure that the correct equipment is selected and used, and that the people required to carry out the work are trained and competent to do so.

"In light of the poor standards observed during these visits we will continue to target contractors of this type when inspecting in the area."

"This local inspection initiative runs alongside HSE's national Height Aware Campaign which is maintaining an impact throughout June. However we propose to continue with this type of saturation inspection of construction sites during the rest of the year in selected parts of South Yorkshire, the Humber region, and North and North East Lincs."