The number of accidents in the construction sector has declined by 17 per cent in the last quarter, according to figures from the Building Safety Group.
The figures show that in the last three months, from 1 November to 31 January, the total number of accidents now comprises just 0.85 per cent of the construction workforce, down from over 1 per cent.
The Building Safety Group said that the biggest drops have been in workers being hit by something fixed or stationary where the number of accidents more than halved from 31 to 14 quarter on quarter.
There was also a 25 per cent fall in injuries sustained by moving, flying or falling objects, down from 41 to 31 injuries. This was the highest cause of accidents across the year with 128 people being injured this way.
According to the figures the highest cause of injury this quarter was people injured while handling, lifting or carrying, although there was a 20 per cent drop in the number of injuries, with 35 people out of 20,000 being injured this way in the last three months and 81 across the year.
The Building Safety Group has put the drop in accidents down to an increased focus during thematic site inspections. There was a rise in accidents year on year from falls from height and those listed as ‘dangerous occurrence’, both of which will be the target of thematic inspections in the future.
Managing director of Building Safety Group, Paul Kimpton, said: “While any accident is one too many, we are really pleased with the positive fall in accident numbers.
“We have been running initiatives focused on the two main causes of accident in construction workers: safety when lifting and carrying and how to avoid being hit by objects — which occurs most often with items falling from scaffolding.
“While we disagree with any money-making motives behind the HSE’s Fee for Intervention, it has necessarily increased the need for more frequent site inspections and for those inspections to be more rigorous, and it is clear that amongst our membership these inspections are now having a positive effect in reducing the number of avoidable accidents.”
Approaches to managing the risks associated Musculoskeletal disorders
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, we hear from Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics Consultant at HSE’s Science and Research Centre, about the different approaches to managing the risks associated with Musculoskeletal disorders.
Matt, an ergonomics and human factors expert, shares his thoughts on why MSDs are important, the various prevalent rates across the UK, what you can do within your own organisation and the Risk Management process surrounding MSD’s.
Not sure what to make of this, WAH is up, which is the biggest cause of fatalities in construction, and any dangerous occurance is pure luck that no fatality occured, few minor near misses are recorded.
Doubt is cast as too how FFI impacted upon these two major issues is it not?
Or are those charged with addressing these issues failing? If so, why?
With the never ending statistical evidence of WAH failure, I would suggest more effort is required by all concerned parties?
Quote: “The Building Safety Group said that the biggest drops have been in workers being hit by something fixed or stationary where the number of accidents more than halved from 31 to 14 quarter on quarter.”
i.e. Workers walking into things….? Is that correct?