Pupils at two Middlesbrough schools have been given an important lesson on the dangers of construction sites as part of a visit by Thirteen and Gus Robinson ahead of the summer holidays.
The youngsters from Thorntree and Pennyman primary schools were given a talk and shown a DVD highlighting health and safety messages.
The visit came just before the period of greatest risk on building sites, as children break up for their long summer holidays. It was designed to teach the children about the dangers found every day on building sites and to discourage them from playing on construction sites. It included information on safety warning signs, building site machinery, protective clothing and the many hazards that can be found on sites.
The pupils were also set a challenge to design health and safety themed posters, and the winning entries will be included as part of the hoarding at the nearby Roworth Road development where Thirteen is currently building 89 new homes.
Kelly Lemon, development coordinator at Thirteen, said: “With the summer holidays starting soon we wanted to speak to the young people and highlight the dangers.
“It’s vital that we make children aware of the importance of the dangers there are on construction sites and in the past, we have found that engaging children in a creative exercise helps to reinforce the valuable message that it is never, ever safe to play on a construction site.”
The school’s head teacher, Mrs Kate Barkley, added: “We were really pleased to welcome Thirteen and Gus Robinson into our school to deliver such an important health and safety message to our pupils.
“They did a fantastic job presenting to the children. They managed to answer all their questions whilst delivering the message in such a way that all pupils were able to understand.”