‘Lives at risk’ on building sites

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors visited hotels, bed-and-breakfasts and entertainment venues in Scarborough, Whitby and Filey throughout last week to check building sites where refurbishment or repair work was being carried out ahead of the tourist season.

The latest crackdown comes after 140 workers were seriously injured and one killed in North Yorkshire in the past 12 months.

Alasdair Green, HSE inspector for construction, last night criticised the lack of progress made since then.

“This was the fifth year of the inspection initiative and it is disappointing to find construction sites taking the same unnecessary risks with their workers’ lives”, he said.

“Although there were examples of good practice, which the industry can learn from, the fact that we found unsafe conditions on one in four sites is unacceptable.

“Companies have a responsibility to protect their workers, to help rid construction of its reputation as being one of Britain’s most dangerous industries.”

During the clampdown, inspectors made 66 site visits and a total of 17 were found to be so far below required standards that inspectors had to issue formal enforcement notices.

Several of the sites visited received more than one enforcement notice either stopping work immediately or requiring improvements to be made.

Last week, the Yorkshire Post revealed that on the first day of the clampdown inspectors visited 23 sites, serving five of them with prohibition notices and two with improvement notices.

Last year there were 833 injuries to construction workers across Yorkshire, with six deaths recorded.