Site safety, kids, and video cameras

Once upon a time there was a young boy with a video camera who liked to film stuff.



The video above is linked to a true story you can read over on Demolition News, but it raises the interesting point of site security if something had happened to that young boy whilst on the site who would have been responsible?

Under the criminal law, namely the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Section 3(1) states: 'It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby, are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety. This has been construed as meaning trespassers as well, and is reinforced by the Occupiers Liability Act 1984 which specifically includes site occupiers’ responsibilities towards trespassers.

So the moral of the story is think carefully about the security of your site and ensure the safety of it, even when there is supposed to be no-one there. Remember the Christmas break is appearing all too quickly over the horizon. This is especially important to those contractors with sites next to or very close to schools. Why not consider engaging the young people with a visit to the school, to educate them, not only about the dangers of trespassing on sites, but also about the positive side of working in our industry.