Construction Health & Safety Management Simon Smith (University of Edinburgh) & Philip Matyear (Balfour Beatty) Part 1: Introduction

Why? You should be prepared:

Case example Why has this joiner done this? Is he aware of the hazards? Can the hazard be removed? Who is responsible for removing hazard?

Hazard a result of design and construction method Difficult to remove formwork

Alternative?

Importance of Construction Safety In the UK since 1980 there have been over 2800 who have died from injuries they received as a result of construction work (HSE) In Europe, construction accounts for 30% of all workplace fatalities, whilst employing only 10% of the workforce The ‘Fatal Accident Rate’ in the UK is for currently 2.2

Importance of Construction Safety In the US, construction accounts for 20% of workplace fatalities, whilst accounting for only 5% of the labour force Workers in the UK construction industry represent just over 6% of the working population, but account for more than 30% of the fatal accidents and over 14% of the major accidents;

Importance of Construction Safety Workers in the construction industry are almost seven times more likely to be killed than the average for all industries; They are more than twice as likely to sustain a major injury than the average for all industries;

Importance of Construction Health The overall risk of ill health in construction is nearly twice the average for all occupations; It is estimated that about 1 in 20 workers, currently or recently working in construction, have suffered a work-related musculo-skeletal disorder; There are about 600 deaths annually from asbestos-related disease among workers in construction trades –(How many asbestos related deaths annually in Europe in all industries?) –21,000

UK Construction Fatalities

Comparison with other industries – current picture HSE no longer publishes this chart Data taken from

Comparison with other countries All workplace fatalities (2000):

From HSE Safety Statistics, 2004 Europe Only:

Comparison with other countries All workplace fatalities (2004): 1.4

Revitalising Health & Safety As a reaction to poor overall statistics, John Prescott launched Revitalising Health & Safety in March 1999 This set targets for all industries and had a 10 point strategy plan. Point no 9: –“Most health and safety failures are due to poor management and ignorance of good practice, rather than direct malicious intent. Education at every level, starting in primary school, in health and safety skills and risk management is key. Significant steps forward have been made, but there is much more still to do. Coverage of risk issues in engineering, design and general management education remains weak.”

RHS National Targets to reduce the number of working days lost per 100,000 workers from work-related injury and ill health by 30% by 2010; to reduce the incidence rate of fatal and major injury accidents by 10% by 2010; to reduce the incidence rate of cases of work-related ill health by 20% by 2010; achieve half the improvement under each target by 2004.

RHS in Construction Construction has responded better than most The ‘Safety Summit’ in February 2001 challenged the Construction Industry to improve its own situation2001 –‘Turning Concern Into Action’ It had already set up its own organisation to achieve this: Working Well Together –

RHS Construction Targets – all Reduction Fatalities and major injuries by 40% by 2004/05 and by 66% by 2009/10 Cases of work-related ill-health by 20% by 2004/05 and by 50% by 2009/10 Number of working days lost per 100,000 workers from work-related ill health by 20% by 2004/05 and 50% by 2009/10

Improvements The construction industry’s reaction so far in the 21 st century has been very positive Fatalities have droppeddropped Safety Cultures are evident on many sites:

RHS Progress? Incident Rate Changes against Targets Source: – published 2005

New Safety Summit – 25 Feb 2005 Trying to maintain impetus. Intro to summit by Kevin Myers: –Video (3.5mins) Realised that targets will only be met via Commitments Commitments so far: Source: Health & Safety Executive (original link no longer active) 46% 27%

Sustained improvement? It is fair to say that safety has had a very high profile in the last four years and this has probably contributed to improved statistics Can this be sustained? Most of the targets, information and resources focus, rightly so, on the practices of the construction industry itself – trades and tasks, management and planning. What is also needed and alluded to in Revitalising Health & Safety is a strategy for health and safety education

Identification and management of risk in undergraduate construction courses Therefore a study was carried out: To determine the current provision of health and safety teaching within undergraduate construction courses, The report provided recommendations for the improved provision of H&S in such courses. In particular: 1.Health and safety risk management is not yet widely recognised as an intellectual subject with a central role in construction risk management.

Identification and management of risk in undergraduate construction courses 2.Health and safety risk issues are generally not well integrated into the curriculum and undergraduates are not adequately assessed in this particular area of study. 3.The management and provision of professional development opportunities for teaching staff in health and safety risk management topics is at best poor and generally non-existent.

Identification and management of risk in undergraduate construction courses General recommendations were that academia should (amongst other points): √ Embrace health and safety risk management as an integral and intellectual component part of the curriculum √ Actively promote the concept of a ‘health and safety champion’ within their staff complement who will initiate and lead the integration of health and safety risk management within all construction courses. √ Work to maximise the links with industry in order to develop intellectual exchange and learning opportunities for staff, students and practitioners alike