MORE site closures and a “significant” number of compliance notices followed WorkSafe’s second inspection blitz following two deaths on home-building sites in Denman Prospect earlier this year. 

“In this second series of inspections up to the end of last week, WorkSafe inspectors completed 84 site visits and issued a total of 128 notices – this includes 54 Prohibition Notices and several Infringement Notices,” says ACT Work Safety Commissioner, Greg Jones.

“We are still seeing concerning issues with working from heights; unsafe scaffolding; electrical issues; no safety planning through Safe Work Method Statements and potential slips, trips and falls.”

“These are the same issues we see time and again, and it is clear that many builders and contractors in this sector do not consider the safety of their workers as important. I think this attitude is completely unacceptable and I can assure all operators in the residential construction sector that WorkSafe will be holding them to account.”

While compliance had improved slightly from the first blitz conducted in January, there was still a long way to go, Mr Jones says.

In total, over the course of the inspections conducted in a six-week period since the beginning of the year, more than 112 inspections have been carried out and a total of almost 200 notices have been issued. More than 70 sites have been shut down due to imminent safety risks to workers.

“We will continue to focus on the residential construction sector as we want everyone to be safe at work,” the Commissioner said.