A construction company has been served an improvement notice after workers came close to striking a high voltage cable during excavation work at Sellafield.

The notice by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONS) was issued to contractors Morgan Sindall Construction and Infrastructure Limited following an incident in October 2020.

The incident occurred in an area under the control of Morgan Sindall on October 7.

Enquiries by ONR confirmed that there were shortfalls by the contractor in providing relevant information to the workers undertaking the excavation work, adherence to procedures and in supervision.

Deputy Chief Nuclear Inspector, Dr Mina Golshan, said: “It is a vital that any contractor working on a nuclear licensed site follows and adheres to the processes and procedures in place. On this occasion, Morgan Sindall fell short in this regard, and that is why we have taken action to bring about the required improvements.

“I am pleased that Morgan Sindall have cooperated fully with our enquires and are working to make the required improvements to prevent any similar occurrences.”

The Improvement Notice has been issued under Regulation 10 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (1999).

In January, ONR also announced that it had served an Improvement Notice on Sellafield Ltd requiring sustained improvements in electrical safety across the site.