The Health and Safety Executive is in talks with Crossrail and Olympic bid officials in a move to gain early input on the projects’ safety standards.

The move would mirror the stance the HSE adopted on the Heathrow Terminal 5 scheme, where it made an early intervention and worked out a model safety regime.

Speaking at a safety convention organised by Building, Kevin Myers, the HSE’s chief inspector of construction, said that the HSE could not stress enough the impact of early intervention on safety practices. He said: “We are already in discussions with those involved in the Olympic bid and Crossrail over allowing us early input. We can’t intervene early enough to get it right.”

Myers added that the exemplary safety record on T5 was partly driven by the HSE’s early dialogue with client BAA on safety issues.

“We have had to make very few T5 inspections as we intervened earlier. It’s far more efficient and more sustainable to act in this way than to constantly go round sites righting wrongs after they’ve happened.”