HSE report: Refurbishment firms refute claims of 'appalling' site safety

grant.prior@rbi.co.uk

REFURBISHMENT contractors have hit back at claims that safety standards in the sector are "appalling".

Results of a blitz campaign by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) resulted in dangerous work being stopped immediately on 30% of sites.

HSE chief executive Geoffrey Podger said: "We stopped work on site immediately during approximately 300 inspections because we felt there was a real possibility that life would be lost or ruined through serious injury. Our inspectors were appalled at the blatant disregard for basic health and safety precautions on refurbishment sites across Great Britain."

But refurbishment contractors believe the results paint an unfairly bleak picture of the sector because they were concentrated on small sites.

Vernon Carter, managing director of restoration specialist William Anelay, said: "For those of us that do take health and safety seriously, it's frustrating to see a poor report that tars us all with the same brush.

"We spend a lot of time, money and resources on educating employees, which we believe will reap benefits."

Another specialist contractor said: "It is far too simplistic to say that refurbishment jobs are dangerous. You have to look at the size of the sites involved. Everyone in construction knows there is a world of difference in safety standards between large well-run contracts, and small domestic jobs where a couple of blokes are bashing down walls.

"It would be much more relevant to grade sites according to their size. It's a fact that most small jobs tend to be refurbishment jobs by their very nature. But that doesn't mean all of us are unsafe. There are a huge amount of very professional firms in this sector and it's unfair to label us all as dangerous."

An HSE spokeswoman said detailed data on the size of the 1,000 sites visited during the blitz was currently being processed.

She said: "Our inspectors didn't particularly target large or small jobs - it was a comprehensive campaign involving a very wide spread of sites.

"We target areas where we believe there is a problem and the statistics show that the refurbishment sector is a problem. It's also clear from the results that the majority of sites were abiding by the rules because no action had to be taken on them.

"We did find good working practices in place, but also a huge number of people risking the lives of their workforce, which is something we won't stand for."

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