Altham widow backs new safety move following husband's death (From Lancashire Telegraph)
When news happens, text LT and your photos and videos to 80360. Or contact us by email or phone.
Altham widow backs new safety move following husband's death
2:25pm Wednesday 22nd February 2012 in News
COUPLE Christine Walton and husband Peter
THE widow of an East Lancashire worker, who died after falling from unsafe scaffolding, is backing a new health and safety campaign.
Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will spend the next month visiting construction sites in Lancashire where refurbishment or repair work is being carried out.
The national safety initiative is being supported by Christine Walton whose husband, Peter, died after falling from scaffolding while working on Altham Industrial Estate in May 2006.
The 55-year-old, from Thornton Cleveleys, was injured when an unsecured board on the scaffolding gave way. He died five weeks later in hospital.
Mrs Walton said: “Any initiative that helps to tackle deaths, and prevents other people from having to go through what I and my family went through, has to be a good thing.”
Dorothy Shaw, HSE’s principal inspector for construction in Lancashire, said: “Poor management of risks in this industry is unacceptable, and even the smallest of firms should have a culture which allows workers to raise issues without fear of reprisal.”
During 2010-11 in Lancashire, four construction workers were killed and 71 were serious injured.
