One of Five Construction Sites Fail Health and Safety
Construction sites are known to be unsafe. It is not that workers intend to put themselves in danger, but often there are perils one does not anticipate until it is seen as a risk due to an incident. The construction and agriculture industries are two of the most dangerous. In these sectors, health and safety training is paramount to ensure that accidents do not occur.
The HSE has been examining many construction sites through health and safety audits. They recently found that one of every five construction sites have failed the inspections. This means that of every five sites audited, four construction sites have proper safety and health training and procedures in place and one does not. The HSE visited 4080 contractors and 3237 sites. They determined that 581 of the sites did not have proper practises and instead put workers at risk. There were about 870 notices issued as well as 603 sites that required work be stopped on the sites immediately.
Many of the issues with construction sites are a result of working at heights. For example a worker walking along the edge of a roof to the ladder would need to have additional security in the event of falling, whether a temporary railing would be in place or he were to be tied off to something above the roof such as a chimney. A worker not properly secured could fall before reaching the ladder.
