Member Article

Quarter of Cheshire and Manchester builders fail inspections

A quarter of Greater Manchester and Cheshire construction sites have failed health and safety checks during a month long drive to improve standards.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out 49 inspections across the two counties, and found 13 construction site that didn’t meet the minimum legal standards, resulting in 22 enforcement notices being issued.

Out of these enforcements, 12 were prohibition notices to halt work with immediate effect and 10 were improvement notices, which required amendments to be made to working practices.

HSE inspectors visited building sites where repair and maintenance work was being carried out as part of a campaign to improve practices in the construction industry and reduce injuries, ill health and the number of deaths.

Unannounced visits were made to sites to make sure high-risk activities, such as working at heights, were being properly managed.

Inspectors also checked for general good order, assessed welfare facilities and protective equipment.

Construction is widely known as Britain’s most dangerous industry, with three workers killed in Greater Manchester and Cheshire last year and 182 serious injuries, while 49 people died in the UK over the same period and 2,800 major injuries were reported.

Neil Jamieson, HSE principal inspector for construction in Greater Manchester and Cheshire, said: “It’s good news that the majority of the construction sites we visited were obeying the law but sadly some sites are letting down the rest of the industry.

“Poorly erected scaffolding, exposure to dangerous types of dust, and inadequate washing facilities were among the poor standards we found on some sites.

“I hope by carrying out these spot checks we will help to raise awareness of the dangers and reduce the number of construction workers being killed or seriously injured at work.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .