The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has shut down 18 residential construction sites in Canterbury since July for poor height safety work practices.

This made up a total of 215 residential construction sites shut down nationwide.

"We visited 760 workplaces in our first enforcement phase of the Preventing Falls from Height Project, and I am very concerned at the level of non-compliance and the dangers workers face on these sites," said project team leader Marcus Nalter.

"We are taking a tough stance on those who are non-compliant. This should be a huge wake-up call to anyone continuing to work unsafely at height."

The level of non-compliance was "so concerning" that they would be extending their first enforcement phase beyond October and into the Christmas season, Nalter said.

Since July, more than 400 enforcement actions have been taken against construction sites found to be non-compliant with the best practice guidelines for working at height.

Half of the sites visited required unsafe work at height practices to be stopped and remedied. Over 160 written warnings were issued, which require immediate remedial action to be taken while the health and safety inspector is present.

In Canterbury, there had been 12 improvement notices, 18 prohibition notices and 17 written warnings issued.

"There's no excuse for the huge amount of unsafe work sites we have uncovered. Doing nothing is not an option," Nalter said.

- © Fairfax NZ News

Comments