{"id":23104,"date":"2016-03-07T11:52:22","date_gmt":"2016-03-07T11:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=23104"},"modified":"2016-03-07T11:52:22","modified_gmt":"2016-03-07T11:52:22","slug":"scottish-construction-safety-inspections-drop-50-per-cent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/scottish-construction-safety-inspections-drop-50-per-cent\/23104\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish construction safety inspections drop by over 50 per cent"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span>Budget cuts have seen a drop in the number of safety inspections undertaken at construction sites across Scotland\u2026<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Employees face greater risks from serious injuries as safety inspections on Scottish construction sides drop by over 50 per cent.<\/p>\n<p>Cuts made in Westminster have led to the reduction in health and safety budgets. This has prompted concerns in Scotland that employees could be in danger.<\/p>\n<p>The construction sector employs tens of thousands of workers. Safety is paramount, given the dangers that can exist on sites. Cutting the budget for health and safety is irresponsible, yet figures show how deep austerity has impacted this area.<\/p>\n<p>The data revealed there were 1,248 proactive inspections carried out by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hse.gov.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span>Health and Safety Executive<\/span><\/a> in Scotland during 2012\/13. By 2014\/15 this figure dropped 55.7 per cent to 552.<\/p>\n<p>The number of inspections that resulted in enforcement action against employers fell from 156 to 108, while the number of notices issued as a result of unannounced inspections fell from 186 to 140 during the same period.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, it was found that during 2012\/13 some 150 prohibition notices were issued, but this had fallen to 100 in 2014\/15.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Andrew Watterson, of the Occupational and Environmental Health Research Group at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stir.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span>Stirling University<\/span><\/a>, said: \u201cWestminster has savagely cut the budgets of the enforcement agency, the HSE, over many years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor employees in the construction industry, even the person in the street knows they face major work safety as well occupational-ill health dangers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is therefore deeply disappointing to see the numbers of pro-active inspections of construction sites by HSE in Scotland cut so dramatically between 2011 and 2015.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHSE has just launched a new and exceptionally weak GB strategy on health and safety based on a London bubble.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConstruction workers may well be amazed that HSE is so complacent about inspections and enforcement and seems to rely more and more on some alternative bland and neutered stakeholder approach. HSE increasingly looks and sounds like a toothless tiger \u2013 a lot of noise and increasingly little action\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucatt.org.uk\/scotland\" target=\"_blank\"><span>UCATT Scotland\u2019s<\/span><\/a> regional secretary Harry Frew said the figures were \u201cshocking\u201d and warned employers may be tempted to \u201ccut corners\u201d as a result of budget cuts.<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cThese findings are shocking. It is only the prospect of an HSE inspector knocking on the door which means that many construction employers comply with safety laws.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf that deterrent doesn\u2019t exist then employers are going to be increasingly tempted to cut corners and risk workers\u2019 lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for the HSE said it looked at construction as a priority area. \u201cHSE\u2019s work with the industry follows a national plan, and we have teams of construction specialists across Great Britain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInspection and enforcement, while important, are part of a much wider mix of approaches for improving health and safety standards in construction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFocusing solely on inspection numbers therefore gives an inaccurate picture and does not reflect all the work being carried out by others. In addition to inspection, HSE investigates accidents, cases of ill health, and concerns about unsafe construction activities.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"mk-custom-module-container\">\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Budget cuts have seen a drop in the number of safety inspections undertaken at construction sites across Scotland\u2026 Employees face greater risks from serious injuries as safety inspections on Scottish construction sides drop by over 50 per cent. Cuts made in Westminster have led to the reduction in health and safety budgets. This has prompted [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[309],"tags":[],"stakeholder_rel_tag":[],"contributor_rel_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23104","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-health-safety-news"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.9 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Scottish construction safety inspections drop by over 50 per cent | Planning, Building &amp; Construction Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Budget cuts have seen a drop in the number of safety inspections undertaken at construction sites across Scotland\u2026\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/scottish-construction-safety-inspections-drop-50-per-cent\/23104\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scottish construction safety inspections drop by over 50 per cent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Budget cuts have seen a drop in the number of safety inspections undertaken at construction sites across Scotland\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/health-safety-news\/scottish-construction-safety-inspections-drop-50-per-cent\/23104\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planning, Building &amp; 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