Remember the kids over Xmas

As the industry enters the traditional annual shutdown over the Xmas break, most construction sites will be left unattended with the outer barrier providing the only means to prevent unauthorized persons gaining access ~ particularly children …

Building sites hold great attraction to children who see these places as great adventure and simply don’t see the dangers around them on the empty sites … often plant and equipment is simply left around on the site which presents fantastic opportunity for the kids to act out their games … all children like to climb, as was the case of one 7 year old boy who, on 23 April 2006, sadly got onto scaffold on a refurbishment site in Tyne and Wear and fell to his death.

A London based company has been ordered to pay over £120k in fines plus the prosecution costs ~ the court heard that the scaffold was erected for 12 days despite only being needed for access for work that only lasted for 30 minutes.

Although the lower ladder from the ground up to the first lift of scaffolding had been removed, it was still possible to gain access from balconies of the flats. Children had made a den up on the roof.

The HSE Principal Inspector said at the prosecution:

“Sadly, this tragic incident could so easily have been avoided. The scaffold was only required for a fraction of the time it was erected. It was taken down immediately after the incident but this death may have been prevented had it been removed promptly when it was no longer needed

As we know, construction sites have always been an attraction to children of all ages who can sometimes view them simply as exciting adventure playgrounds. In doing so they fail to recognise the dangers that they can put themselves in when playing on sites

All constructors must be aware and take action to prevent this unauthorised and highly dangerous access to building sites”

The team at CDM2007.org wish the industry all good cheer over the Xmas shutdown and hope those who control the sites take their duties seriously and responsibly and get all unwanted scaffolding removed from site as soon as it is finished with ~ don’t leave it in place over the shutdown ~ don’t create the opportunity for the children to hurt themselves ~ plan properly!

CDM2007.org have recorded all the presentations at the recent major Work at Height Conference held at Lingfield Park Race Course in October ~ you can access these multi-media from the website …

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