Construction sites across Great Britain have recently been put under the safety spotlight as part of an intensive inspection initiative from the HSE aimed at reducing death, injury and ill health.
Between Monday 20 February and Friday 16 March, inspectors are visiting sites across the country as part of a Great Britain-wide month-long drive to improve standards in one of Britain’s most dangerous industries.
If you’ve had a visit from an inspector, get in touch and share your thoughts.
A 28 year old scaffolder fell seven metres through a roof and shattered his thigh bone, bruised his lungs, broke both wrists, broke two vertebrae and cracked another when installing scaffolding at a factory when he fell through a fragile roof.
He was in hospital for six weeks and will never be able to carry out any manual work again as his injuries have left him with considerable pain in his left leg and extremely weak wrists, which will require further surgery.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident found the company did not prepare or survey the job properly at the outset and failed to supervise or train its employees adequately.
The Scaffold Company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £19,000 costs.
A firm has recently been fined after handing over unsecured scaffolding to a client, putting builders at risk.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector visited the site where building repairs and external work were being carried out.
The inspector noted that the scaffolding erected around the building had not been adequately tied, meaning it was unstable.
By law, all scaffolding must be inspected by a competent person before it can be used.
The local Magistrates’ Court was told the worker who undertook safety checks, had been previously been advised of the need to adequately tie scaffolding but had overlooked this advice. He was also fined.
The scaffolding company was found guilty and fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 in costs, whilst the worker who undertook the safety checks pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 28(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £2,274 costs.
Don’t forget the importance of carrying out safety checks and making sure these are undertaken by a competent person.
What you need to know – three key questions;
Question 1: Which projects require appointment of a principal contractor?
Answer: The client must appoint a PC on projects that are likely to involve more than 30 days or 500 man days of construction work (notifiable projects). The client will carry the PC duties if a separate appointment is not made.
Question 2: When should the PC be appointed?
Answer: The client must appoint a PC as soon as practicable and at the latest before the construction phase starts.
Question 3: Who needs to be informed of the PC appointment?
Answer: The co-ordinator must inform HSE of the PC details as soon as practicable after the PC is appointed.
Don’t Forget -
The law 
requires that principal contractors (PC) must undertake the following actions: