Health and Safety publications

Facilities

ISSN: 0263-2772

Article publication date: 1 January 2001

178

Keywords

Citation

(2001), "Health and Safety publications", Facilities, Vol. 19 No. 1/2. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2001.06919aab.012

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited


Health and Safety publications

Health and Safety publications

Keywords: Health and safety, Workplace injuries, United Kingdom, Construction industry

Health and safety figures improve but Britain must do better says HSC chair

The Health and Safety Commission's (HSC's) latest workplace safety statistics show a downward trend in both numbers and the incidence rate of injuries to workers in the year from 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000.Bill Callaghan, chair of HSC said: "The figures are important as they will help form the baseline for the tough targets set by the Government's and HSC's Revitalising Health and Safety Strategy announced last month.

"The figures show that in 1999/00 the fatal injury rate is estimated to fall from 0.9 to 0.8 per 100,000 workers and the major injury rate from 108.8 to 107.5 when compared with the previous year's figures. A total of 35 fewer workers died, down from 253 to 218. Major injuries fell from 29,053 in 1998/99 to 28,939".

Mr Callaghan continued: "The targets, everyone concerned should help to achieve, mean that by 2010 there should be a reduction of 10 per cent in the fatal and major injury rate. The Commission and Executive will do all we can to help achieve at least this level of improvement. But we cannot do it alone. I want to see employers, unions and others commit to agreed and sustainable targets for improvements and to make these targets fully operational, not just aspirational.

"The encouraging reductions in the figures we're publishing hide some disappointing increases. Our estimates show that construction fatalities have returned to the level of 1997/98, rather than continuing the improvement achieved in 1998/99, which was the lowest level ever recorded", said Mr Callaghan.

Over one-third of all workforce fatalities are in the construction industry. The rate of deaths per 100,000 workers is expected to rise to 4.5 compared to 3.8 in 1998/99, representing an increase of 14 deaths, up from 65 to 79.

Mr Callaghan added: "While we cannot conclude too much about the industry's overall performance from the number of fatalities in a single year, the reality is that the levels of injuries in the construction industry are unacceptable; every death is one too many. I expect the industry to take up the challenge to deliver at least the target reductions in the Revitalising Strategy. Given the poor record of the industry it should aim for much more. The change in culture required for lasting improvements can only come from within. There is no quick fix. Deep-rooted attitudes need to be changed."

Kevin Myers, the Health and Safety Executive's chief inspector of construction, said: "The rise in deaths is of particular concern at a time of increasing activity in the construction industry. There must be a redoubling of efforts to re-establish the improvement of previous years".

Fatal accidents to members of the public are estimated to be higher than the previous year with a rise from 369 to 437. The Ladbroke Grove disaster claimed the lives of 29 passengers and there has been a large rise – from 247 to 277 – in acts of suicide or trespass on the railways.

Mr Callaghan concluded: "On a more positive note, there has been an encouraging reduction in the estimated fatal injuries for the service, agriculture, manufacturing and extractive and utility supply industries."

The statistics contained in the bulletin are HSE's best estimates for 1999/00. More detailed information will be published in the autumn in Health and Safety Statistics and the HSC Annual Report.

Working Well Together lives up to its name

Working Well Together – the HSC and construction industry's ambitious health and safety campaign – is living up to its name.

Market research undertaken a year after the launch of the campaign, which promotes safer working practices throughout the construction industry, has revealed a high level of awareness since it was unveiled in May 2000.

The research, commissioned by the HSE, was undertaken by Aspect Market Research and involved interviews with more than 200 health and safety managers from construction companies nation-wide. It has shown that the campaign's core messages – to change the culture surrounding health and safety; to encourage workers to be more health and safety conscious and to prompt employers to take a more proactive health and safety stance – are hitting their key targets.

By the end of July 2000, 1,200 hits a day were being recorded on the WWT Web site, wwt.uk.com, while more than 3,000 calls had been made to its "hot line" from firms signing up for the campaign. Some 7,000 construction workers have also signed up to its aims, while almost 300 action plans have been submitted – tangible proof that firms are taking up WWT's challenge by formulating their own action plans to improve health and safety. In the survey, more than 40 per cent of health and safety managers recognised the campaign.

At the campaign's national conference last June, Lord Whitty, Minister with responsibility for health and safety, spoke of the need of the industry to improve its health and safety record and recognise that construction workers' lives were more important than "cutting corners".

Commented Kevin Myers, chairman of the Health and Safety Commission's construction advisory committee (CONIAC) and HSE's chief inspector of construction: "Our latest research suggests the campaign is hitting each of its targets, which is particularly gratifying and reflects well on the employers, unions and the commission, who are committed to its success".

"The fact that the results of the research are so positive proves Working Well Together's worth. The campaign will continue and we hope it will take on an even higher profile as its messages become even more well known."

The campaign messages were reinforced throughout the country recently as the WWT "battle bus" toured 14 major construction sites in Wales, the Midlands, Kent, Cornwall, London, Suffolk, Avon and Wiltshire this summer, taking the campaign message to hundreds more workers for the first time.

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