The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned construction companies to take the safety of their employees working at height seriously.

The warning follows HSE's prosecution of a Liverpool construction company for failing to implement safe systems of work for working at height after repeated warnings.

Maghull Construction Company Ltd of Switch House, Northern Perimeter Road, Bootle was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £1,908 costs after pleading guilty of breaching regulation 6(3) and 12(4) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 at Southport Magistrates court.

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On August 2006 after a complaint from a member of the public, an HSE inspector visited a Maghull Construction site. The inspector found unsafe work at height practices including inadequate edge protection and missing guardrails and toe boards. They served a Prohibition Notice which stopped work near open edges until suitable measures to prevent falls were in place. When the inspector revisited the site on 2 November she discovered similar problems and a second Prohibition Notice was served.

(GK/JM)