The construction industry in the Republic of Ireland is responsible for twice as many work-related deaths as the construction industry in Great Britain. One of every five deaths at work in the Republic is construction-related, compared to one in 10 in Great Britain.
The building boom in Ireland is one reason for this tragic health and safety record, though the industry has always had a poor safety culture, according to industry commentators.
The statistics worry the unions. Construction union UCATT represents 11 000 members in the Republic. And the union’s general secretary George Brumwell is concerned about the number of construction deaths in the Republic. “There has been a spate of fatalities, due to the industry overheating. The safety culture is behind the UK, and the lack of representation is the route of the problem.” UCATT is pressing for roving, trained safety advisers to be appointed jointly by the health and safety authorities of both Ireland and the UK, the unions and the employers to combat the problem on site.
Small is worst
Rolf Bunn, a senior safety and environmental adviser for Carillion, has worked extensively in the Republic. He says that employers are worried they will loose staff if safety is enforced too rigidly. “If a worker is told to wear their hat and they refuse, and if their boss becomes too rigid about it, they will just go and work somewhere else.”
Bunn says smaller contractors in particular are guilty, because enforcing safety becomes a financial bind for them. “They will be competing against other contractors who won’t have made allowance for safety measures in their tender. If it means they have to add another 10% to their bid, safety will get left out.”
The Construction Industry Federation, an organisation representing 3 000 members of the Republic’s construction industry, has made safety its top priority in 2000. It is part of the Construction Safety Partnership, a government initiative set up in October last year to improve the Republic’s poor safety record. Its aim is to involve all relevant organisations in producing an action plan. That was launched in February and states that construction is inherently the most dangerous industry, due to its constantly changing locations and to its lack of union representation.
Regulations are under review
It is the contractor’s responsibility to ensure the welfare of all people working on its site. However, under Irish law, it is not compulsory to wear hard hats on site, only where there is a risk of objects or people falling from heights. The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) in the Republic is currently reviewing the construction regulations. The construc-tion sector takes up 40% of the HSA’s activities. This year already it has inspected 3000 sites and obtained high court orders to close two. Sixteen other sites voluntarily closed themselves after inspection by the HSA.
The HSA has identified four main areas of concern: working at height without proper harnesses; working in excavations that are too deep; transport into sites causing a danger to the public; and inadequate welfare facilities. But all these factors can perhaps be attributed to a more comprehensive problem. Robert Roe, a senior inspector with the HSA, says that bad planning is to blame for the poor safety on Irish construction sites. “There has been an improvement lately, but sites still need to be better organised. The larger firms are starting to take notice, but the main problem is with the smaller companies and the self-employed.” All of which provides an ideal opportunity for well-trained construction managers.
More awareness, more inspectors
The HSA is working with the industry and unions to give workers a role in site safety by encouraging more safety represen-tatives on site. The authority is also increasing the number of its own inspectors. By the end of the year, the number of full-time construction inspec-tors will have doubled from nine to 18.
For the HSA, construction safety is a serious concern. The most basic regu-lations are not being followed. When I recently visited Dublin, I spotted sites where safety rules were being flouted openly, including men not wearing hard hats at a PJ Walls site in Dublin city centre. A PJ Walls spokesman says this was an uncharacteristic lapse. “That site generally has good site safety. We have a full-time safety officer. From time to time, there are breaches, but we work very hard at safety.”
Northern Ireland is not without its problems either. Although the statistics don’t look so bad, there is less construction in Ulster than the Republic. And there is, too, a lack of awareness about safety issues.
Sean Morgan, chief buyer for H&P Campbell contractors of Newry in Northern Ireland, says the main problem lies with the subcontractors. “You may have 10 subcontractors working on a site, and if one if them isn’t safety-conscious, it drags down everybody else.”
Source
Construction Manager
