Construction, which is known to be one of the most dangerous industries in the UK, is showing a slight improvement in safety, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has revealed. One in five construction sites failed spot checks carried out by the HSE as part of an initiative to improve safety in construction, which is a slight improvement on previous figures.
The HSE targeted, in particular, high-risk activities such as working at height and the general condition of sites, checking that they were in good order, clean and tidy.
In total, 3237 sites were checked by HSE inspectors, 581 of which were deemed to have practices that put workers at risk. Inspectors had to issue 870 enforcement notices, and had to stop work with immediate effect in 603 cases. As there were 50 deaths in construction between April 2010 and March 2011, it is important that construction sites are safe, and it was announced in February that the HSE would be targeting the sector in an attempt to reduce death, injury and ill health at them.
Despite the improvement, the HSEs Chief Inspector of Construction, Philip White, was quick to suggest further improvements are necessary, "It is encouraging that inspectors found a slight improvement in standards and small construction firms are taking safety seriously when carrying out refurbishment work. But this is just a snapshot, and the number of notices served for unsafe work at height is still unacceptable, particularly when the safety measures are well-known and straightforward to implement. Too many contractors continue to put their own or other people's lives at risk and we will not hesitate to take action where standards are not met."
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