HSE CONSTRUCTION BLITZ TARGETING MOBILE PLANT, VEHICLES AND LIFTING OPERATIONS

HSE press release E028:03 - 21 February 2003

During March 2003 Health & Safety Executive (HSE) Inspectors will be visiting construction sites throughout East and South East England checking that risks from mobile construction plant, vehicles and lifting operations are properly controlled.

These visits are a continuation of the national rolling programme of 'blitzes' planned by the HSE Construction Division. HSE has been carrying out construction project 'blitzes' across the UK in a bid to cut down the unacceptable toll of deaths, injuries and ill health on construction projects.

HSE Inspectors will visit sites across East and South East England and adopt a rigorous approach to checking on the safety of mobile construction plant, vehicles and lifting operations. Work may be prohibited and prosecution action taken where there is serious failure to control risk and / or comply with the law.

HSE Inspector Philip White said: "The number of deaths and serious injuries in the construction industry is unacceptably high. Plant, vehicles and lifting operations account for some 30% of fatalities in construction and are the cause of a very significant proportion of the fatal and serious injuries in this region."

He added "We will seek to identify poor standards and may take formal enforcement action, including prosecution, where the law is flouted and persons are put at risk. All parties involved in construction projects must improve their performance if the industry is to meet the Revitalising Health and Safety targets that it has set itself."

The matters that may be covered during these visits include:

• Safe Site - availability of a traffic management plan, separation of plant and vehicles from pedestrians, the control of reversing or slewing operations, use of high-visibility clothing and the maintenance of traffic routes.
  
• Safe Plant and Vehicles - the maintenance of critical controls, warning devices and visibility aids, authorisation to drive plant and vehicles, all round visibility by provision and use of sufficient mirrors, CCTV, roll-over protection and seat belts.
  
• Safe Driver - possession of training certificates that have been checked, operation of plant and driving of vehicles in a safe manner, induction carried out including information on the traffic management plan.
  
• Safe Lifting Operations - Inspectors will wish to check whether it is a "crane hire" or "contract lift", who is appointed to plan the lift, who is supervising the lift and the presence of a lifting plan / method statement. Particular attention will be paid to lifting plan information about the lifting tackle to be used, the competency of those persons given the task of slinging loads and the specification of the mobile crane outrigger support.

Notes to editors

1. The formal enforcement action inspectors are able to take includes: serving an Improvement Notice, which requires improvement to particular aspects of safety; and a Prohibition Notice, requiring work to cease until remedial action is taken. Failure to comply with such notices will usually result in legal proceedings. HSE can prosecute where there are serious breaches of health and safety law and especially where there is significant risk to people's safety. Decisions about enforcement action are guided by the Health and Safety Commission's Enforcement Policy statement, published on the HSE website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/index.htm

2. There were 79 fatal injuries to workers in the construction industry between 1 April 2001 and March 2002. A further 3,959 people were reported to have suffered a major injury. A quarter of the fatalities in 2001/2002 were caused by being struck by a moving vehicle or flying/falling object.

3. Reducing fatalities, injuries and ill health in construction is a Health and Safety Commission (HSC) priority programme.

4. Transport including plant, vehicles and cranes are construction priorities that form part of the Revitalising Health and Safety Campaign. Revitalising Health and Safety, published in June 2000, is a Government and HSC initiative with targets for the nation to reduce work-related deaths, ill health and injury in Great Britain. More details about Revitalising Health and Safety can be found on the HSE website on: http://www.hse.gov.uk/revitalising

5. The construction industry committed to a step change in performance, which was demonstrated through setting challenging Revitalising targets and adopting action plans at the Construction Safety Summit that took place on 27 February 2001. The construction industry set the following Revitalising targets for improvement.

To reduce:

• the incidence rate of fatalities and major injuries by 40% by 2004/5 and 66% by 2009/10;
  
• the incidence rate of cases of work-related ill health by 20% by 2004/5 and 50% by 2009/10:
  
• the number of working days lost from work-related injury and ill health by 20% by 2004/5 and by 50% by 2009/10.

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