29 May 2004 - Improvements to Health and Safety Called For in the Construction Industry
A report published by the National Audit Office (NAO) concludes that the construction industry, Government and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) could do more to improve the health and safety of construction workers.
The NAO says that there has been a reduction of 5% in deaths and injuries in the construction industry since 2001.
The NAO also adds that the construction industry has "poor" health AND safety records compared with other sectors of the UK economy. In 2002-03, of the 226 workers in the UK fatally injured in the course of their work, 71 were construction workers, (31%), the highest proportion from any sector. A further 4780 construction workers were reported as having suffered a major injury, over three times the average for the main industry sectors.
Some of the NAO’s recommendations to the HSE, as the industry regulator, are that it should:
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work with the construction industry to develop tangible measures linked to priority issues, such as falls from heights
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develop the focus and nature of some of its recent initiatives to target other areas, for example, tackling designers
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increase the number of follow-up interventions with firms visited under its blitz programmes and maximise the potential impact of the programme through publicity and engagement with intermediaries
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develop a programme of evaluations of its various initiatives which assesses the most important each year
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increase its use of blitzes and Safety and Health Awareness Days, to increase the industry’s compliance with the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994.
Health and Safety Executive: Improving Health and Safety in the Construction Industry can be found here.
