Construction companies in Cardiff have been warned about breaking safety laws after a series of unannounced visits from Health and Safety Executive (HSE) uncovered failings across many sites.
The inspections, which targeted small and medium sized domestic property developers, found conditions at some sites were so bad that immediate enforcement action had to be taken to ensure the health and safety of workers on site.
Liam Osborne, HSE inspector for the area, said: "The number of unsafe property refurbishments currently being undertaken in the Cardiff area is of real concern. We had no choice but to take robust enforcement action to ensure that workers on site did not suffer significant injury or worse."
"We would much prefer to be offering advice, but when we inspect sites that are clearly dangerous to the workers and members of public we will not hesitate to take enforcement action to protect lives and livelihoods.”
The inspectors discovered many basic health and safety failings, including not using scaffolding to prevent roofers falling from height, and not using boarding floor beams to prevent workers slipping through the gaps.
Inspectors also found that none of the workers at the projects visited were aware of the extent of asbestos in the property before work started.
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