HSE targets Bradford for health and safety blitz

Inspectors from the HSE and Bradford Council visited over 175 businesses recently as part of an intensive, two-week long, joint inspection initiative aimed at making the city a safer and healthier place in which to work.

Between 20 and 31 October 2008, Bradford Council and the HSE focused their attention on construction sites and a wide range of inner city premises including retail outlets, garages, engineers and others.

As a result, inspectors issued 75 improvement notices - where action was required to be taken as a matter of urgency to prevent an accident occurring---and 16 prohibition notices - where inspectors found it necessary to stop activities immediately until steps had been taken to put things right.

At one visit, it was evident that machinery safeguards were so poor employees were at risk of serious injury or worse. In this case, in addition to notices being issued, a prosecution is also being considered. 

A number of companies will receive follow up visits from HSE and Bradford Council inspectors over the coming months to ensure they have made the necessary improvements.

The initiative focused on key areas for concern where there was significant risk of injury or ill health. In addition to safety violations, there were a number of breaches of important welfare requirements, including, for example, a lack of heating, dirty toilets and eating areas, and poor lighting.

HSE principal inspector Chris Flint, who led the HSE inspection team, says:

“This has been the first time the HSE and Bradford Council have undertaken a joint initiative of this kind and it has proved very effective.

“Inspectors found a range of unacceptable practices ranging from employees being expected to access upper storage areas without precautions to prevent them from falling, to dangerous machinery being operated without adequate guarding. All simple matters to deal with, yet as our inspectors found them, all accidents or an ill health occurrence waiting to happen.”

Despite these findings there were also positive signs suggesting that many dutyholders in Bradford are responding positively to the advice and information available to them and managing health and safety effectively in the key areas required of them.

John Blanchfield, Environmental Health Manager for Bradford Council, who led the council’s team of inspectors says:

“The majority of employers welcomed our help and were keen to comply with the advice given. Overall, it was pleasing to see that in many premises health and safety was clearly being taken seriously and was well-managed. Encouragingly, this also extended to some of the very small businesses visited (including those with one or two employees) and the self-employed.”