Building site safety regulations ignored

PEOPLE working at heights on building sites are continuing to ignore health and safety regulations, a nationwide safety campaign revealed.

Workers on smaller building sites remain most at risk in the high-fatality industry.

A recent safety blitz by health and safety inspectors showed scaffold and roof workers were the worst offenders.

A senior inspector with the Health and Safety Authority, Jim Heffernan said: “The fact that only a minority of sites were fully, or even broadly, compliant with the regulations was extremely disturbing.”

Conducted last month, the two-week inspection blitz was part of the HSA’s Don’t Fall for It campaign, aimed at curtailing the high fatality rate on building sites.

A total of 22 tragedies last year left the construction sector with the worst record of industrial accidents.

After visiting 201 sites, health and safety inspectors issued 192 enforcement notices.

Mr Heffernan said one in five sites complied with safety regulations on working at heights. Almost half of the deaths last year involved falls from heights.

Mr Heffernan said: “We will prioritise this high risk area throughout this campaign which will continue into 2004, when construction safety will be the focus of European Safety Week.

“The results highlighted a massive and worrying discrepancy between small and large construction companies in safety management arrangements.

“The fact that only a minority of smaller sites have appointed project supervisors, is a terrible indictment of these small operations and we will redouble our efforts to ensure full compliance going forward.”

The authority, he said, is planning a second site inspection blitz in September.

However, a positive finding, he said, was the presence of site safety representative on 87% of the larger sites where more than 20 workers were employed.

About half the sites inspectors had project supervisors, which is a requirement under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work regulations.

The larger sites, again, primarily complied with the regulations but only 30% of smaller sites, employing up to five people, complied.

The HSA inspection survey found the worst offenders were people working at heights, either on roof work or scaffolding.

Despite the breaches of health and safety regulations, none of the offending site operators are expected to face prosecutions.