excavations, according to the Government Health and Safety office.

Substandard barriers around excavation sites are a hazard, particularly at night, Inspector Harry Powell told The Royal Gazette . "The public should be very concerned,'' he said.

In many places, Mr. Powell said he has seen nothing more than a couple of traffic cones and a few flashing lights marking a roadside ditch while some trenches are being left open for weeks on end.

Contractors, he said, "are taking a hell of a chance''. And the biggest risks seem to be taken on the shortest jobs. "They take a chance because they think `it's just a little quickie','' said Mr. Powell.

He gave the example of a job site he saw this week where a mechanical digger was excavating next to a sidewalk. Mr. Powell claimed pedestrian traffic continued to pass along the walkway while large boulders were being hoisted into the air. "I said, `you're going to kill someone' but they said they'd be done in five minutes,'' he said.

"I don't think they think of it as taking a risk in terms of whether they might get caught, but rather, taking the risk that nothing will happen.'' Although the responsibility for observing the proper safety standards falls to the employer, with sub-contractors and other parties involved, finding the person who is ultimately responsible can be quite a challenge for the safety office.

"If no one is working when I get there, then it's hard to get things squared away,'' said Mr. Powell. "The nature of the construction industry is such that hazards are here today and gone tomorrow. But, what happens if, in the meantime, someone crashes into that? "Nasty accidents take place as a result of construction activity -- these have happened and are likely to happen again. The people involved can't just forget about safety.'' While roadside obstructions such as the Victoria Street barrier surrounding the crane working on the John Swan building site, may be annoying to the public, Mr. Powell said they are less dangerous and worrisome to him than road excavations.

Few of the roadside excavations are meeting the standards set out in the Health and Safety Act, he said. The open ditches should be surrounded by solid barriers with reflective tape or paint on them and surrounded by flashing lights.

Mr. Powell said that the best examples of the type of solid barrier that should be used is the metal, fenced barriers that the Corporation of Hamilton uses for crowd control at parades and special events. These barriers link together forming a continuous, solid, fence wall around the ditch and have few protrusions jutting out on which a passing cyclist or motorist might catch.

Roadside excavations put public at risk -- claim By comparison, he said the "sawhorse'' barriers can't be linked up, so, a motorist might just fly through one of the gaps into the ditch. And the sawhorses have "a series of ends sticking out where a (motorbike) can catch and that can just dump you.'' And even a shallow hole can pose a real danger to and those travelling on motorbikes, he said. "You don't have to fall into a six-foot, six-inch hole to hurt yourself. In the second fatality I ever investigated in Canada, the man fell from the second step of a ladder -- a fall of eight inches.'' When roadside visibility is hampered by darkness or bad weather, the risks increase, according to Mr. Powell.

"The public needs to be aware hazards exist and be vigilant,'' he said.

And while he said there are good contractors striving to keep standards high -- pointing in particular to the roadside walkway the ACE construction site erected along Woodbourne Avenue -- others seem almost uninterested. "(Health and Safety) stress that the regulations and legislation are based on the absolute minimum requirements, but some (contractors) do much less than the minimum. Sometimes, it's just pathetic and unprofessional.'' While contractors not complying with safety standards risk prosecution, many are willing to take that risk out of reluctance to incur the cost of erecting proper barriers and refuse to accept their responsibility for public safety in addition to that of their own workers, he said.

"People just aren't prepared to make that investment. They're in it for the immediate dollar.'' Meanwhile, if contractors used the Corporation of Hamilton style barriers, he said, half of the safety risks would go away.

There have been a number of "slips and trips'' over the last year with prosecution still pending for a number of incidents.

"The public should be concerned and if they have a concern they should call Health and Safety about it. Or, if it's in the City of Hamilton, they should call the Corporation,'' he said.