HSE Report Back on Smaller Building Sites

20% of Sites Classed as "Very Poor"

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has given an initial report back on its new programme of intensive inspections focusing on smaller building projects, expressing disappointment at the number of sites where work had to be stopped.

HSE Construction Inspectors started the programme to be carried out across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, with visits to building sites across the Watford and Three Rivers area on 13 June 2007.

The HSE says that on 20% of the sites, the safety precautions to prevent falls from height were so poor that work had to be stopped.

The projects visited so far have included roof and gutter repairs, replacement window work and home extensions.

Visits have also been paid to factories in the area and enforcement notices requiring improvements in the control of work at height and in machinery safety were served at a similar proportion of the visits.

Philip Poynter, HSE Principal Construction Inspector for the Home Counties region including Hertfordshire, said, “I am disappointed at the number of sites which had to stop working. The unsafe practices concerned work at height where jobs had not been properly planned or where precautions were not implemented fully”.