What did we do in February 2008?

• 1108 sites and 1419 contractors were inspected
• 208 Prohibition Notices (PN) on work at height issued
• 19 Improvement Notices (IN) on work at height issued
• 17 Prohibition Notices on good order were issued
• 13 Improvement Notices on good order issued
• 138 Notices issued on other serious areas of concern
• In 13 cases, inspectors believed the situation on site to be so poor that prosecution is being considered

What did we do in Summer 2007?

• 1295 sites and 1586 contractors were inspected
• 220 Prohibition Notices on work at height were issued
• 26 Improvement Notices on work at height were issued
• 24 Prohibition Notices on good order were issued
• 13 Improvement Notices on good order were issued
• 143 Notices issued on other serious areas of concern
• In a number of cases, inspectors believed the situation on site to be so poor that investigations commenced which may lead to prosecution.

What did we find?

• During both initiatives we found that approximately 1 in 3 sites and 1 in 4 contractors inspected were found to be working below the acceptable standard.

HSE inspections identified significant amounts of poor practice across Great Britain.

Approximately one in three sites, and one in four contractors, were considered to be working so far below the acceptable standard that HSE inspectors felt it necessary to use their powers to serve enforcement notices to immediately stop the work or activity on site (PN), or to require improvements to be made within a specified timescale (IN).

• During both initiatives we found that almost 1 in 5 sites were failing to address work at height risks on site.

Working at height is the biggest single cause of serious and fatal injuries on construction sites, yet despite this, on average, almost one in five of the sites inspected demonstrated significant failings in this area requiring service of an immediate PN.

Working safely at height is a matter of following simple precautions. The basic principles are:

• Take time to plan the work
• Select the right equipment and use it properly

Slips and trips, along with falls from height, are the biggest cause of major injuries in construction. Tripping hazards on site are not something which should be taken lightly as our inspectors proved, serving nearly 70 enforcement notices in relation to good order issues during both initiatives.

Good order on site makes good common sense and is good business practice. A tidy and organised site tends to be a more productive one, where people are able to spend their time doing the work they’ve been paid to do rather than clearing waste out of the way before they can start or climbing over mountains of rubbish to get to their place of work.

What can you do to manage risks on site?

Further sources of information to help you manage working at height and good order risks on site:

• Working at height
• Falls website
• Good Order
• Slips and trips website