11 speakers. three-and-a-half hours of talking. Here are the best new initiatives construction could come up with to improve its health and safety performance. Rod Sweet reports on an industry struggling to meet the targets it set itself last time out

Senior executives and union representatives met on the 24 February at a Construction Health and Safety Summit in London to review progress made on the 10-year health and safety commitments given at the Construction Summit in 2001.

The Summit was also held to celebrate successes to date and commit to further action.

In 2001, the industry committed to cutting the incidence rate of fatalities and major injuries by 40% by 2004/5 and 66% by 2009/10.

Although 2003/04 had the lowest incidence rates ever for all injuries (fatals, major and over 3 day), industry is not on target. While the fatal injury rate has fallen 40% since 2001, the major injury rate for employees has fallen 12% and the employee over-three-day accident rate has fallen 18% since the Summit.

There is an even longer way to go in cutting work-related ill health.

“I welcome the progress the industry made so far, but it is falling short of the challenging targets it set itself in 2001,” said Jane Kennedy, Minister for Work at the Department for Work and Pensions, in her keynote speech.

our 2001 targets implied it was still ok to injure or kill people each year

John Spanswick

She congratulated the industry on what it had achieved, but pushed for more: “I want to see stakeholders to take ownership of the health and safety challenges, show leadership in taking action and forge new partnerships to accelerate health and safety improvements.”

Also calling for action was Bill Callaghan, chair of the Health and Safety Commission: “If the industry is to meet its Revitalising Health and Safety targets, it needs to commit to further actions, be innovative, and above all respect the industry’s most valuable asset, its workforce.”

General Secretary of construction union UCATT Alan Ritchie pointed out that behind any favourable statistics lies the unacceptable fact that 64 people have died on construction sites since April 2004.

He praised the safety record at Heathrow’s Terminal Five, but attributed that success to the fact that most of the labour is directly employed.

Read the new commitments for action announced by key speakers at the summit on the facing page.

1. CITB will halve: the cost of Health and Safety Test

Peter Lobban
CITB-Construction Skills Chief Executive

“Following a series of negotiations with the test supplier and a review of internal processes, the price will be cut from £35 to £17.50 from 4 April 2005,” Lobban said. “We believe the revised Test price will realise savings for industry of £4m per year - money that can be spent on delivering and funding further training. This represents a reinvestment of over £20m in the drive to qualify the workforce by 2010.”

A revised Health and Safety Test will be introduced in April. It will represent recent changes in legislation. Language has been simplified. The updated Test will be supported by an improved booking service, a wider range of support materials, voiceovers in a range of languages and an updated question bank. There will be a significant increase in the number of mobile test centres so that testing can be taken direct to a contractor’s site or training premises.

The reduction in the price of the Test improves accessibility to those groups who wouldn’t normally claim a CITB grant.

2. MCG pledges a move away from annual monitoring

John Spanswick
Chairman of the Major Contractors Group Health and Safety Group, and chair of Bovis Lend Lease EMEA

Spanswick announced that the MCG would “move away from” the targets it set itself in 2001 to reduce injuries and deaths by 10% each year.

“Such targets imply that it is still okay to injure or kill people each year,” he said. “We shall continue to report progress each year but towards a goal of zero tolerance to poor health and safety performance.”

Other priorities for 2005 at the MCG include: lobbying government to insist on fully qualified workers on government sites; setting up a working party on induction standards and sharing information on near misses.

3. Specialist might get tough with main contractors

Trevor Hursthouse
Chairman, Specialist Engineering Contractor’s Group

Specialist contractors (steel, plumbing, heating, electrical and lift) may be demanding safer sites from main contractors after Trevor Hursthouse, SEC Group chairman, announced the general take-up of the Site Access Certificate.

Developed originally by steel erectors in 2001, the certificate is a questionnaire main contractors fill out before the specialist lets its workers on site.

It asks the main contractor some tasty questions. Have you told us about hidden dangers like asbestos? Have you told us where fixed hazards are, like backfilled excavations? Is there enough light and power? Have you marked underground cables? Have you removed slipping and tripping hazards? Have you got decent welfare facilities?

It’s voluntary. The British Constructional Steel Association say most steel contractors use it. While a small number have taken a stand and refused to go on site, most bow to commercial pressure and get on with the job. Still, the BCSA believes it is driving change.

4. Strategic Forum launched new code of practice

Peter Rogers
Chair, Strategic Forum

The Strategic Forum launched a Respect for People code of practice and chairman Peter Rogers expects everybody in the industry to sign up to it – clients, contractors, specialists, workers and designers.

The code demands action. Contractors must have effective systems in place to change behaviour. They must talk about Respect for People issues with subcontractors and clients. They must review successes and failures after each project.

Action is what he wants. “I’m not a great believer in accidents,” he told delegates. “Acts of God are very rare. They are incidents that could have been prevented.”

You can sign up to the code at www.hse.gov.uk/construction/
codeofpractice/

Rogers threatened to blow the whistle on those who don’t. “I’ll be very public about companies that do not join up,” he said.

Source

Construction Manager