A quarter of construction sites closed during falls from height safety blitz

A quarter of construction sites visited nationally by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) during the first two weeks of June were forced to down tools.

Of the 1,446 sites visited across the country during the 'Don't Fall For It' safety blitz on falls from height, 332 sites were issued with prohibition notices and a further 75 were served improvement notices.

Some examples of bad practice include:

• A refurbishment project where workers were walking across open steel beams at a height of 6m with a fall onto demolition debris below.
• An entire scaffolding gang found with worn or damaged safety harnesses with no system for harness inspections.
• Many examples of inadequate or absent toe boards, intermediate guard rails, scaffolding and work platforms.
• Contractors found to have poor compliance with the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations.

However inspectors did find some examples of innovative forms of access methods and equipment.

Kevin Myers, the HSE's chief inspector for construction, said: "This evidence suggests that there is still a large number of people working in the construction industry that are either unaware or do not fully understand their duties to manage falls from height risks."