HSE spot checks shut down Merseyside construction
sites
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors have shut down four
building sites in the Merseyside borough of Sefton during the last
week, as part of a month-long initiative to enforce health and
safety compliance.
The HSE officers carried out checks at 88 sites across the whole
of Merseyside on February 14 and 15. Four of the 28 inspected in
Sefton were found to have substandard health and safety conditions
and were immediately halted. Further work will not be permitted on
the sites until the contraventions have been sufficiently
addressed.
In all, the inspectors issued 21 improvement and 22 prohibition
notices during their clampdown. Many of the problems encountered
involved unsafe conditions during work that was being carried out
at height.
The operation's principal inspector for construction, Wayne
Crumpton, said, "Workers' lives were being put at risk on a quarter
of sites we visited in just the first two days. That is a sobering
statistic."
The initiative was organised in the North West to cut down on an
increasing number of serious construction site accidents, after
eight workers were killed and more than 1,000 injured in the region
between April 2009 and March 2010. The spot checks will continue
until March 11, and will focus on refurbishment, repair and
maintenance activities.