HSE plans plant blitz in March

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has revealed that inspectors will be visiting construction sites throughout the East and South East of England next month to check that risks from mobile construction plant, vehicles and lifting operations are properly controlled.

HSE inspectors have been told to adopt a rigorous approach to the checks and work may be prohibited and prosecution action taken where there is serious failure to control risk and/or comply with the law.

HSE Inspector Philip White said: "The number of deaths and serious injuries in the construction industry is unacceptably high.

"Plant, vehicles and lifting operations account for some 30% of fatalities in construction and are the cause of a very significant proportion of the fatal and serious injuries in this region." 

He added:  "We will seek to identify poor standards and may take formal enforcement action, including prosecution, where the law is flouted and persons are put at risk.

"All parties involved in construction projects must improve their performance if the industry is to meet the Revitalising Health and Safety targets that it has set itself."