Construction safety campaign launched in West Midlands
In the next few weeks, construction sites in the West Midlands will be the target of a new health and safety campaign aiming to reduce workplace death rates and injuries within the industry.
The focus of the campaign will be scaffolding and the measures put in place by businesses to protect workers from harm. According to the official figures, there were 250 injuries and 3 fatalities relating to mobile fixed scaffolding in the West Midlands, Warwickshire and Worcestershire between 2006 and 2011.
Leading the campaign is Jo Anderson, who is a Principal Inspector for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Commenting on the safety drive, Ms Anderson said:
“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.”
Whilst the campaign is running, the HSE will be looking at the equipment construction companies use when working with scaffolding, as well as the health and safety training employees and supervisors undergo in order to work safely with scaffolding.