Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive will be visiting construction sites in Swindon to check on the risks of falls.

The national inspection blitz will involve all frontline construction inspectors across the country and is part of a Europe-wide campaign to reduce falls from height in construction.

Falls from height remain the biggest cause of death, disability and injury in construction in the UK. They account for almost half of all deaths and nearly a third of major injuries in 2001/2. In Wiltshire, 26 of the injuries in construction last year were caused by a fall from height, of those, eight took place in Swindon.

Chantal Nicholls, HSE Principal Inspector for Wiltshire, said: "Often these accidents could have been avoided.

"HSE inspectors will visit construction sites in Swindon in an effort to reduce falls from height. Where we find unsafe work at height, we will not hesitate in taking enforcement action."

Last July firemen were called to rescue a builder who hurt his back in a fall while working on the now opened Homebase superstore in Haydon Wick. Last May a sign fitter and maker fell from a ladder and smashed his leg while painting a shop in Eastcott Road.