Bovis Lend Lease has stopped groundworks on sites throughout the country after a worker was killed by an excavator on its Barton Square project in Manchester.

Patrick Moroney was killed on 18 December when he was struck by a bucket that came loose from an excavator. The Health and Safety Executive issued a prohibition notice to Bovis, banning use of “quick hitch” excavators (which have a single safety catch on the bucket) on all of its sites until further checks had been carried out.

Bovis was instructed to check the training of all excavator operatives and ensure safety bars had been inspected.

Half of Bovis’ 70 UK sites were affected by the notice, which banned the use of the excavators but did not prevent other work taking place.

As Building went to press on Wednesday a Bovis spokesperson said he expected all sites to be operational again by the end of the week.