Work stopped on Newcastle sites

The Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) inspections on construction sites in Newcastle has led to work being stopped on four of them over workplace safety.

Inspectors visited a total of 24 sites in the area and issued four prohibition notices after concerns were raised about the wellbeing of staff who were carrying out tasks at height as well as worries about electrical issues.

A lack of adequate welfare facilities as well as a failure to carry out risk assessments for the use of step ladders led to two other sites being issued with improvement notices.

Jonathan Wills, a HSE inspector, said too many firms allow bad health and safety practices to continue despite the number of injuries and fatalities suffered in the construction industry each year.

"Site safety should be paramount and the simple answer is that too many sites allow bad practices to continue … it is up to us all to ensure they [workers] have a safe working environment and receive proper training," he stated.

According to the HSE, 23 of the 77 worker deaths in the construction industry in 2006/07 resulted from falls from height.