Authorities in the German state of Hesse have launched a week-long scaffold safety inspection campaign after previous checks found that only 21% of construction sites fully met required safety measures.
The targeted inspections are taking place across Hesse from 8 to 12 June and involve the regional administrations in Gießen, Darmstadt and Kassel.
The move forms part of a wider campaign by Germany’s Joint Occupational Safety and Health Strategy, known as GDA, which is focused on reducing fall accidents in construction.
Falls remain one of the biggest risks facing construction workers in Germany. According to Hesse officials, falls accounted for 31% of fatal workplace accidents in the country between 2009 and 2023.
Inspectors are expected to focus on both technical and organisational failings linked to scaffolding. Previous checks found a high level of non-compliance, including missing assembly instructions and scaffolds being altered incorrectly on site.
Dr Katherina Rüping, deputy head of the construction occupational safety department at the Kassel regional administration, said accidents continue to occur where scaffolds are built incorrectly or are not properly secured.
The campaign follows several years of information, advice and monitoring work aimed at improving fall prevention on German construction sites.
For scaffold contractors, the findings point to a familiar problem: safety failures often sit between the scaffold handover, site management and later unauthorised changes made during use.
The German action will be watched by safety bodies across Europe, where falls from height remain a major cause of death and serious injury in construction. Eurostat data shows construction accounted for 24% of all fatal workplace accidents in the EU in 2023.
The Hesse campaign is expected to put site managers, employers and scaffold users under closer scrutiny, with inspectors aiming to address unsafe conditions while they are on site.
