In a week-long drive from today (21 February), inspectors from the Health & Safety Executive will be visiting sites in Kirklees and Wakefield where refurbishment or repair works are being carried out. It forms part of a month-long national initiative to improve standards in one of Britain’s most dangerous industries.

Mr Neil Dawson, 42, from Barnsley, his younger brother Paul and their mother, Jackie, who still lives in Dewsbury, were left devastated after Trevor Dawson, then 58, sustained life-changing injuries in the fall. He had been painting a dormer window during refurbishment work on student accommodation in Newsome, Huddersfield, back in August 2007.

The father and grandfather had severe brain damage and had to go into a nursing home for 24-hour care. He died in June 2010 as a result of a fit brought on by the head injuries he suffered.

The primary focus of the inspections will be on high-risk activity such as working at height and also ‘good order’ such as ensuring sites are clean and tidy with clear access routes and good welfare facilities. They will also assess general site safety to identify potential risks.

The purpose of the initiative is to remind those working in construction that poor standards are unacceptable and could result in enforcement action.

Neil, a machine operative, said:

“The loss of Dad left a huge hole in all our lives. My mother lost her soulmate and she has never got over his loss. My partner and I have five children and two of them never got the chance to meet their granddad.

“It is still a mystery why my father, who was so safety conscious and had been all his working life, was on a ladder that was not up to standard for the work being undertaken on the site. He had been a decorator since he was 16 so he was very experienced. He’d talk about retiring and living on the east coast by the sea, but that was all taken away so quickly.

“Any campaign that highlights the dangers faced by workers on building sites gets our support. Safety is paramount – it is someone’s life after all. You don’t get a second chance.”

During 2010/11, two workers were killed while working in construction in West Yorkshire and more than 100 major injuries were reported. There were seven deaths and nearly 250 serious injuries across Yorkshire and the Humber as a whole.

David Stewart, Principal Inspector for Construction for HSE in West and North Yorkshire, said:

“This will be the sixth year that we have run the inspection initiative and we anticipate that that we will see examples of good practice – where employers are taking the right steps to protect their workers – and bad – where safety comes too far down the list of priorities.

“Poor management of risks in this industry is unacceptable, especially when many of the incidents can be avoided through simple precautions. As we have demonstrated in the past, we will take strong action if we find evidence that workers are being unnecessarily put at risk.

“Although the inspection initiative will primarily be focusing on construction sites in Kirklees and Wakefield, any site in West Yorkshire could be visited during the campaign. Employers should ensure that sites are safe places to work or expect enforcement action to be taken.”

HSE has targeted the three other West Yorkshire areas of Leeds, Bradford and Calderdale in previous years’ construction campaigns.

John Smith, 53, was working as a fitter at Railcare Ltd’s facility in Charles Street, Springburn, when the incident took place on 15 December 2008. There were no witnesses to the incident but it is thought that he was using a large lathe to clean the axle of a train, as colleagues had seen him carrying out this duty earlier in the day.

A length of emery cloth was found wrapped around the revolving chuck on the lather. It’s thought that Mr Smith had clamped the axle to the chuck inside the lathe, which spins at 600rpm, and wrapped the emery cloth around it, holding one end in each hand and pulling back to apply pressure. It’s further believed that either his gloves or his sleeve got caught in the chuck, which pulled him into the machine and he suffered fatal head injuries.

The HSE’s investigation found that the company had failed to carry out a detailed risk assessment, which would have highlighted the dangers of not having guarding around the chuck.

HSE inspector Lesley Hammond said that the method of work was inappropriate and should have been carried out by placing the axle on a stand and using a powered buffer to clean it. She said: “This is a tragic incident that need never have happened. Although lathes are common in workplaces throughout the country, they are potentially lethal. A chuck guard should always be in place and safe working practices should always be adhered to.

“In this case, supervision throughout the company failed to act on these matters. This contributed to a working environment which had safety procedures in place on paper, but permitted them to be disregarded in practice.”

Railcare appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court on 8 February and pleaded guilty to breaching s2 of the HSWA 1974 and was fined £133,000.

In mitigation, the firm said it deeply regretted the incident and Mr Smith’s death had devastated the company and its employees. The lathe was immediately taken out of service and will be scrapped or sold now the case has been concluded. It admitted failing to identify that workers were using an unsafe method of work and it now ensures that the parts are cleaned with a buffer.

Labour MP Luciana Berger (pictured) has tabled a Ten-minute Rule Bill to give health and safety inspectors the power to apply for a court order to freeze the assets, or parts thereof, of a company under investigation following a death or serious injury at work. The Bill has been prompted, in part, by the death of a member of Ms Berger’s Liverpool Wavertree constituency nearly five years ago.

Richard Mark Thornton died on 29 March 2007 when he was struck by a six-tonne steel column, which was being moved by a poorly-maintained 50-tonne crane, during the construction of a new floor on a warehouse at Wavertree Business Park.

The crane-hire firm, Bryn Thomas Crane Hire Ltd, went into administration in December 2010, a few months prior to the case going to court. The firm pleaded guilty to health and safety failings, which contributed to Mr Thornton’s death, but was fined just £4500 with no costs, owing to its financial status. However, according to construction firm UCATT, which is supporting Ms Berger’s Bill, the judge remarked that an appropriate fine would have been £300,000 if the company had not been in administration.

After entering administration, the company was sold to Bryn Thomas Cranes Ltd and Bryn Thomas Holdings Ltd, which resumed trading using the same equipment.

The Bill, which will be heard in the House of Commons on 8 February, seeks an end to the practice of companies – known as phoenix firms – opting for administration to avoid prosecution, or heavy fines, before starting up again as a similar business.

Commenting on her Bill, Ms Berger MP said: “Companies whose actions result in the death of a worker must be forced to take responsibility. If passed, my Bill will ensure that companies can’t become phoenix firms to escape justice.”

Steve Murphy, general secretary of UCATT, said: “Every workplace death is a tragedy, leaving a family devastated. It is simply appalling that companies can cheat justice following the death of a worker by using creative accountancy and get away completely scot free.”

The Bill also builds on an Early Day Motion (EDM), introduced in May last year by Labour MP for Liverpool Walton, Steve Rotheram. The EDM called on the Government to introduce stronger legislation to prevent companies that “continue to avoid prosecutions and have fines reduced for committing health and safety offences [from] going into administration and then re-establishing their business using a slightly different name with the same premises and the same equipment.”

• Falls from height remains one of the most common causes of fatalities and major injuries in the construction industry, with more than five incidents every day.

• 54% of the workers who have died in construction over the last few years were doing refurbishment, repair and maintenance jobs.

HSE will not hesitate to take action if we find poor practice that is putting the lives of workers and the public at risk.  Many incidents are completely avoidable by taking simple common sense precautions.

Find out what you can do to improve health and safety on your site before an inspector calls – call Innov8 Safety Solutions.

More than 25 Merseyside companies and organisations have joined forces to build a new state of the art community hub on Renshaw Street for youth charity The Prince’s Trust and its highly regarded Fairbridge programme.

The extensive £350,000 refurbishment project has seen the companies work either pro bono or at cost to transform a section of the former Rapid hardware store enabling The Prince’s Trust, and its Fairbridge programme, to work with an even greater number of disadvantaged 13 – 30 year olds.

Jayne Wilson manager of The Prince’s Trust Liverpool Centre, praised the ‘incredible generosity’ of the companies behind the project saying that more than £100,000 has been contributed in professional fees and pro bono advice with a further £180,000 being received in donations.

“No praise is high enough for the companies who have ploughed so much time, effort, energy and money into the project to help us make this dream a reality,” she said. “The business community grasped the opportunity to dramatically improve our offering to young people in the area within a matter of months they have transformed this site has been transformed into a modern, ambitious, inspirational 21st century youth centre. This generosity of spirit and desire to help the community is Merseyside at its very best. Critically our new premises, which will formally open in April, will allow us to work with significantly more young people. In the next year we are hoping to work with around 240 youngsters an increase of nearly 100 on last year. That is the scale of change this new building will create and it would simply not have been possible without the support of all these companies.”

Liverpool One Estates Director Chris Bliss, who led the refurbishment project, said a core team of professionals made substantial contributions to make the project happen.

“More than 40 people worked on the refurbishment in total,” he said. “All deserve huge credit. However, it is very important to thank the professional team who undertook the most costly and time consuming aspects of the project. Firstly LandAid must be commended for contributing £71,000 in cash to the new centre and for involving Liverpool One and Grosvenor Estates, which provided the premises and funding. Aztec Interiors did a magnificent and demanding job as the main contractor and worked at cost. K2 acted as the architect, Todd and Ledson acted as the quantity surveyors, Innov8 Safety Solutions undertook the health and safety work and Curtins Consulting acted as consulting engineers. The international property company Gardiner & Theobald acted as project managers and contract administrator.”

Jeremy Newsum, Chairman of LandAid’s Grants Committee (Executive Trustee of the Grosvenor Estate) said: “We were delighted to support the new Prince’s Trust centre in Merseyside. As the charity of the UK property industry our mission is to help disadvantaged young people achieve their potential. We do this best when we can consolidate the resources, expertise and influence of the industry. In this case, Landaid contributed £50,000 and attracted generous additional funding of £21,000 from Redevco and pro bono services for the Prince’s Trust from Knight Frank, Gardiner & Theobald and Grosvenor.”

The companies which worked on The Prince’s Trust Liverpool Centre refurbishment project included:
Land Aid, Grosvenor Estates, K2 Architects, Todd and Ledson, Gardiner and Theobold, Curtin Consulting, Innov8 Safety Solutions, Liverpool ONE, Medicash, Wates Construction, Rapid, Aztec, Commercial Windows, Concept Signs, Honeywells, L Hougton and Co. Bibby Line group, Innstyle Painting, A& B Engineering, Peel

Funding to make it possible came from
Clothworkers, Institute of Family Business, Hemby Foundation, Johnston Foundation, MCR Holdings, Anton Jurgens Charitable , Louis Nicholas Residuary Charitable Trust, and Land Aid

Construction safety firm Innov8 Safety Solutions says it has won a raft of new contract wins in the chemical, health and education sectors.

The Wirral and Manchester-based business has signed deals with chemical firm Perstorp, Ellis Williams Architects and the Mid-Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

It specialises in site safety and management, and construction design management – a legal requirement to identify potential risks which applies to any new construction project that goes beyond 30 days.

Managing director Alan Robson said: “This recent influx of contracts really demonstrates the breadth and depth of our service. We have wide experience and expertise across a range of sectors and a number of new clients have appointed us as their construction design management partner of choice.”

Ellis Williams Architects is working on a primary school in Fleetwood, while the Mid-Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is carrying out work at Leighton Hospital in Crewe and a care Unit in Winsford. Perstorp, a polymer producer in Warrington, is building a new office.

In June Innov8 was appointed to implement a 12-month health and safety programme at the Port of Liverpool for Peel Ports.

Issues that inspectors will be looking at most closely include height safety and asbestos risk management.
Last year HSE inspectors visited 2014 sites and 2414 contractors. They were forced to issue more than 350 prohibition notices to stop dangerous work, much of it relating to working from height.

Inspectors will be checking that:

• Jobs that involve working at height have been identified and properly planned to ensure that appropriate precautions are in place
• Equipment is correctly installed / assembled, inspected and maintained and used properly
• Sites are well organised, to avoid trips and falls
• Walkways and stairs are free from obstructions
• Work areas are clear of unnecessary materials and waste

A lax attitude to health and safety in one of the more dangerous industries is not acceptable, especially when many of the incidents are completely avoidable by taking common-sense actions and precautions. Rest assured that the HSE will not hesitate to take action if they find poor practice that is putting the lives of workers at risk.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us on 0845 468 1974.

Alan Robson, MD says “I am pleased to have Gary join myself and the team, we can see the positive impact he his having with our clients already. As with all our team we have a long term strategy so that Gary can progress rapidly over the next 2 to 3 years with a view to becoming a Director with Innov8″ Downtown Liverpool recognised Innov8 Safety Solutions as Business of the Week