This August, the U.K.’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is turning its focus to scaffold safety in three counties in England in an effort to reduce construction injuries and fatalities.
Between 2006 and 2011, three fatalities and 250 injuries involving fixed or mobile scaffolds occurred in Worcestershire, Warwickshire and the West Midlands in England. In particular, HSE inspectors will target poor performance on smaller construction and refurbishment sites where scaffolds are in place.
"Scaffolding still poses a significant risk to those involved in its construction and dismantling as well as those who use it. Too many workers needlessly die because work was not properly planned or the equipment was incorrectly installed or used,” said principal inspector Jo Anderson, who leads the campaign.
Anderson stressed that inspectors will target sites where inadequate scaffolding may endanger workers and will take enforcement action as necessary.
HSE inspectors will determine whether jobs that involve working at height have been properly planned to ensure that adequate safety measures are in place and that equipment is correctly installed, inspected, maintained and used.
Further information about safe working in construction, including the use of scaffolds from HSE, visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction.