WARRINGTON is leading the way in its bid to prevent serious accidents or even a fatality in its memorial centres.

The borough council has been given the all clear this week to establish a Memorial Masons Registration Scheme following growing concern over the safety of memorials within cemeteries and churchyards.

There have been four fatalities in as many years caused by unsafe memorials and, although the ownership and responsibility of each memorial is that of the individual grave deed holder, the borough council has a "duty of care" to the people who visit them. As a result, this new initiative will give the borough council more powers in regulating the quality and control of installation, inspection and maintenance of memorials.

It is an area in which the borough council is leading the way. It is understood to be the first authority in the country to introduce and pilot an IT-based memorial data collection and management system.

Under the terms of the scheme, every memorial mason will be insured for public liability to the tune of £5 million.

They must also apply to erect or carry out additional work to a memorial and health and safety, inspection of work and workmanship guarantees will also play a big part.

If a mason breaches the rules or conditions, a series of warnings will be issued which could be followed by an indefinite ban on working on borough council sites.