Inspectors appalled at disregard for safety

Mar 7 2008 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

NEARLY one in six West Yorkshire building sites failed healthy and safety spot checks.

Nine out of the 60 sites inspected by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) were served with enforcement notices after inspections in February.

Nationally, 1,000 sites were inspected and 395 enforcement notices were served. These can order work to stop immediately or improvements to be made.

HSE chief executive Geoffrey Podger said: “We stopped work on site immediately during approximately 300 inspections because we felt there was a real possibility that life would be lost or ruined through serious injury.

“Our inspectors were appalled at the blatant disregard for basic health and safety precautions on refurbishment sites across Great Britain.

“HSE will not tolerate negligence or poor safety standards on construction sites.

“It is totally unacceptable that so many lives have been put at risk and we will take all action necessary to protect workers, including closing sites and prosecuting those responsible.

“The construction industry should take ownership of this issue and do more to tackle poor standards on sites.”