HEALTH and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors carrying out surprise visits to Watford companies this week found good standards at many of the premises visited, but in some companies there was still room for improvement.

Inspectors visited about 30 engineering and manufacturing premises last Wednesday.

They found that, in general, the companies were taking action to protect their employees from injury at work, but some needed to do more to deal with health and safety risks.

Speaking after the visits HSE Principal Inspector David Head said: "Although we were encouraged by what we saw in many of these companies, some of them still have a long way to go to meet current health and safety standards.

"In one case, at a plastics factory, machinery guarding standards were so poor that we had to issue an improvement notice requiring modification to one of the machines.

"We advised many companies about what they needed to do to improve their standards, but we also saw examples of good practice."

The visits in Watford were part of an ongoing HSE initiative across the east and south east.

January 29, 2003 16:00