July 18, 2003—Over one hundred building sites in the east of England have been checked by HSE inspectors for safety compliance—and a quarter have failed.
“We were disappointed to find some sites where poor standards of safety were putting employees at real risk,” said Sandy Carmichael, HSE principal inspector for Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. 19 contractors received prohibition notices, requiring them to stop work, and 12 were issued with improvement notices, which give a specified time limit for resolving problems.
Falls from height continues to top the list of HSE concerns. In the site visits, scaffolding erected by specialist contractors generally met relevant standards, not always the case where the scaffolding assembly was carried out by others.
Reprinted with permission; copyright 2003 i-FM
