HSE stops work on one in five sites in crackdown

The HSE shut down work on one in five construction sites it visited during a month-long safety crackdown in September.

The nationwide campaign targeted 2,607 sites run primarily by SMEs carrying out refurbishment or repair work and resulted in 539 prohibition notices requiring dangerous activities to stop immediately.

Around a half of all sites visited (1,105) failed basic safety standards, of which 644 required some form of enforcement action to protect workers. This included 414 sites issued with improvement notices requiring standards to improve.

Michael McCarney MCIOB, a lecturer in health and safety and construction process management at Glasgow Caledonian University, commented: “These figures make for bleak reading. There’s a tendency to think that the industry has made great progress on health and safety but that seems to be confined to the high-profile projects, or new build work, whereas firms doing refurbishment work seem to slip under the radar and think they can get away with taking risks.” 

Asked about possible solutions, he said: “The knee-jerk reaction to these figures is perhaps to increase or change regulation, but that will just increase bureaucracy for small firms who already lack resources and it won’t provide a long-term solution to the problem.

“Regardless of whether it’s a £100,000 refurbishment project or a £50 million new build it comes down to making sure management continually communicate the correct safety messages to employees and embed it into the company culture.

“In the past we spent our time telling workers to put their safety helmets on and now it’s taken for granted, the same attitude should apply to the rest of health and safety practice.”

Commenting on the figures, HSE chief inspector of construction Heather Bryant said that where inspectors encountered poor practice, it “often went hand in hand with a lack of understanding”.

Asked whether workers needed to be more vigilant or if companies were ignoring risks, Bryant added: “It has to be a joint effort. You have to have individuals on site who are aware of the risks and know what they have to do personally in terms of complying.”

The most common problems identified by HSE inspectors, who arrived at sites unannounced, included failure to protect workers during activities at height, exposure to harmful dust and inadequate welfare facilities.

The extent of problems varied little across the regions. In London, east and south east 824 sites were inspected, resulting in 308 notifications of contravention; in the midlands, Wales and the south west 823 sites were inspected with 359 contraventions; in Scotland, Yorkshire and the north east 576 sites were inspected, with 259 contraventions and in the north west 384 sites were inspected resulting in 179 contraventions.

Schemes that failed safety checks will be subject to follow-up site visits, telephone conversations and in some cases companies must send the HSE photos demonstrating they have improved site safety.

According to HSE figures 59% of fatalities in 2012/13 occurred on refurbishment sites, many of which were operated by SMEs with fewer than 15 people on site.