A guarding company has launched a social media campaign to warn of the risks of playing on construction sites this summer.
Using some hard-hitting images, the digital media campaign from VPS Site Security aims to reduce the number of incidents of young people playing in and around or on the rooftops of building works or empty sites.
After a recent spate of children suffering serious or sometimes fatal injuries, the contract security firm is seeking to get the message across to young people about the dangers of vacant sites being used as playgrounds. One of the pictures shows a broken leg with bone visible.
Simon Alderson, Managing Director of VPS Site Security, says his firm estimates that probably over 3,000 young people are taking risks every week trespassing on construction sites or vacant buildings. As summer holidays approach, unattended construction sites will become a magnet for children looking to explore and play in them, despite being full of hidden dangers such as uneven grounds, incomplete staircases, roofs, glass window frames, and motor equipment.
Alderson says: “Kids are naturally curious, they might get bored during the vacation, and so unwittingly take steps that could lead to a broken leg or worse. I know one of the campaign’s pictures is raw, quite literally, but when we showed young people the range of posters, that was the one that most said made them think more carefully about the dangers.”
The campaign is not just directed at young people, but also at owners and managers of construction sites left temporarily vacant.
Alderson adds: “Because they are dangerous places, site managers should do their utmost to keep them safe and secure whilst they are unattended. Combustible materials should be removed, the security of perimeters and all access points checked regularly, and, for particularly vulnerable sites, they should consider CCTV monitoring.”
Anyone who owns, or controls, a site has a legal duty of care to protect people on the site from foreseeable harm, and this duty even extends to people who are trespassing. People injured on a site, even if they are unauthorised trespassers, can sue the owners and managers for negligence and for responsibility for their injuries.
