A Fermanagh building site owner has expressed concern for the safety of children treating construction sites as playgrounds during long summer evenings, it emerged this week.

“Children as young as three years old are wandering through residential estates and onto building sites, putting their own safety at risk,” the construction company owner said.

“We’re not talking about 15- and 16-year-olds who are capable of being in some way responsible for themselves. Some of these kids wandering around without supervision are so young they’re barely fit to walk,” he said.

The builder’s concern was raised earlier this month after seeing children as young as three years old roaming across his site off the Lackaboy Road once diggers had stopped and labourers had packed up and gone home from work.

“It happens between 5 and 10pm at night when the builders have gone home and families must be relaxing in the evening with the children out of sight,” the builder suggested.

“Children are freely wandering through the housing estates and onto our grounds, despite the fact they’re fenced off,” he added.

“If anything was to happen to any of them it would be a total tragedy and I know that I as a site owner, would be legally responsible,” he said.

“Parents need to be more aware that their children are roaming about with their safety at risk,” he added.

“They’re good kids from respectable families but they need to learn that building sites are not playgrounds. Construction sites are dangerous landscapes and are not for kids. It’s an issue every builder is concerned with,” he said.

In an effort to prevent anything untoward happening the site owner employed a security patrol to man the grounds after building-workers’ hours.

“We’ve hired security guards to make sure no one comes onto the site when the builders aren’t there,” he explained.

“We’re also thinking about doing a leaflet drop around the houses, just to make parents more aware. But this can’t go on. We try our best to secure the site but when kids are involved you feel there’s an accident waiting to happen,” he said.