The contractors building the new Kingsland primary school in Peebles take safety extremely seriously and have been finding innovative ways of ensuring people understand the potential dangers of a construction site.

Graham Construction approached Jacqueline Wilson, Head Teacher of Kingsland Primary School, to arrange for 'Safety Sam' to visit the school to give safety talks to the children. He asked them if they would design the safety poster that could be used on site.

All of the pictures were excellent and Ella Perks' design was chosen to be turned into a poster along with the slogan "Come Home Safely".

Ella's drawing shows all the dangerous things on a construction site like cranes and diggers but depicts the builders smiling and working safely, wearing safety equipment and following all the rules.

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The safety campaign is designed to have a dual purpose. Firstly, Graham Construction emphasise to the children of the town the dangers of straying onto a building site and, secondly, the poster encourages the company's own workforce to take their own safety very seriously.

Councillor Catriona Bhatia, Executive Member for Education, attended a presentation to thank Ella and said: "Ella's drawing is wonderful and its message is so important. I'm pleased to see contractors engaging with the community so successfully to promote safety for the town and for the industry as a whole."

Project Director Keith Patrick said: "Graham Construction is committed to maintaining its excellent safety record and we strive to develop new techniques to further reduce risk within the industry. We promote safety to be the norm and embed it into the culture of our working."

Safety Sam is an initiative led by the Construction Industry in conjunction with the Health and Safety Executive. As part of this, the Graham Construction site manager has been out in the guise of 'Safety Sam' to present to the school children on the importance of safety around building sites.

(GK/JM)