The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), in partnership with Wyre Borough Council, is piloting a project at premises on Poulton Industrial Estate which it hopes will cut the death toll of Lancashire workers.

HSE Health and Safety Awareness Officers will team up with the local authority's Environmental Health Officers between mid-October and mid-November to carry out spot-checks at the Poulton site, off Garstang Road East.

All premises on the estate will receive flyers on Monday, October 13, that spell out the reasons for the visit, but each business will be unaware of the exact date it will be called on.

The inspection teams will be on the look-out for causes of the most common industrial fatalities and, if the project proves successful, other industrial parks across the North West can expect to receive similar spot checks in the future.

A similar pilot is taking place in Greater Manchester.

Businesses that receive the visits will be given advice on matters such as how to carry out a transport risk assessment and the importance of taking damaged ladders out of service.

Enforcement Liaison Officer for Lancashire, Dorothy Shaw, said: "Around half a dozen inspectors from both the HSE and Wyre Borough Council will be visiting premises in the area over the next two months.

"We'll be knocking on doors and keeping our eyes peeled for potential hazards in the workplace. If it proves to be a good way to drive the safety message home, we will look at rolling the programme out across the region.

"Our hope is that we can prevent some of the serious and yet completely unnecessary incidents which the HSE and local authorities investigate on a routine basis.

"These incidents don't just leave workers injured and unable to work; as the figures show, in some cases they can be fatal."