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UK News - Breaking news in the field of health and safety
Safety checks on new Plymouth shopping centre reveals....
Safety checks on new Plymouth shopping centre reveals 'encouraging' trends
An impromptu inspection of the new Drake Circus shopping centre in Plymouth by the Health and Safety Executive revealed that many of the firms involved in the project have clearly been thinking about safety aspects of the work.
Inspectors decided to revisit the development yesterday (24 August) now that main contractor Bovis Lend Lease Ltd have officially handed over the majority of the shop units to retailers that are due to open shops there in October.
The handover has meant that many more contractors are on site carrying out shop fitting with each company holding responsibility for health and safety - a situation that can complicate safety management.
Three construction inspectors from HSE in Plymouth visited the site along with an electrical specialist inspector to look at issues including working at height, hazardous dust levels, paint spraying and electrical installation. They found that general standards at the majority of the 19 shop units visited showed that Health and Safety risks were being adequately controlled, although at two units enforcement notices were issued to stop high risk activities. Both notices were for working at height without adequate guard rails.
HSE Inspector Martin Lee, who co-ordinated the visit, said:
"Throughout this project Bovis Lend Lease have maintained a strong safety message to their own contractors whilst the major construction works have been carried out. However with so many new contractors on site, all working to strict deadlines we wanted to ensure that safety is not being overlooked. That is why we decided to carry out these site inspections.
"Whilst, unfortunately we had to issue prohibition notices to two contractors on site we were encouraged by standards on the whole. We found that many firms are using tower scaffolds and powered access platforms rather than tall stepladders, which is far safer in most cases.
"Given that Falls from Height are the biggest killer in the workplace we want this transition to continue. Firms need to ensure that workers are properly trained in the use of access platforms. We gave advice to several firms who did not have high enough guard rails on tower scaffolds to prevent people falling over the edge and this reflects a lack of training.
"Falls are so preventable when work is planned properly and the correct equipment is used, so we would urge all contractors to look carefully at how they handle this area of their work."
