Press Release - Health and Safety Executive: Improving health
and safety in the construction industry
12 May 2004
The construction industry and government organisations
influencing the procurement of construction work could do more to
improve the health and safety of construction workers, according to
the National Audit Office. The HSE as regulator also has a role to
play in contributing towards reducing deaths and injuries. There
has been a 5 per cent reduction in deaths and injuries in the
construction industry since 2001. Nevertheless, the targets the
construction industry set for itself at the 2001 health and safety
summit for reducing deaths and major injuries (40 per cent by 2005
and 66 per cent by 2010) are unlikely to be met and can be measured
only in part.
The United Kingdom accident rate is the second lowest within the
European Union and considerably less than the average.
Nevertheless, the construction industry has a poor safety record
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 per cent), the highest proportion
from any sector. A further 4,780 construction workers were
reported as having suffered a major injury, over three times the
average for the main industry sectors. The industry’s health record
is also poor. Industry stakeholders, who create the risks are
legally responsible for controlling and managing them but cultural
barriers are inhibiting improvements and these barriers must be
broken down.
The HSE has selected the construction industry for priority
action and established a new operational division to deliver its
construction priority programme in April 2002. This provides a more
strategic focus and has increased the impact of HSE's work, not
simply on sites but on other stakeholders in the supply chain such
as clients, designers and suppliers. This has been welcomed by
industry stakeholders. Today’s report to Parliament by head of the
National Audit Office Sir John Bourn looks at actions taken by the
HSE and how successful its approach has been so far.
He found that, by supplementing site inspections with blitzes of
concentrated activity focused on a particular issue or area, such
as falls from height, HSE increased its impacts. Furthermore, it
has also used research findings to identify workers most at risk
and has supplemented site-based work with initiatives targeted at
smaller construction companies, such as Safety and Health Awareness
Days.
HSE has yet to assess fully how successful these initiatives
have been in reducing accident rates in the areas it has targeted
because they have not been in place sufficiently long; the
difficulty of determining its own impact apart from other
influences on health and safety performance; difficulties in
establishing baseline data; and the characteristics of the
industry. NAO believes that the new initiatives are positive
developments.
Among the NAO’s other findings are that some public sector
bodies sponsoring construction projects focus too much on the
lowest price in a tender evaluation and not enough on issues like
whole-life costs that take account of the health and safety, not
only of the construction workers on a project, but also of those
who occupy and maintain the project when completed. Furthermore,
many designers lack knowledge of their responsibilities under the
Construction (Design and Management Regulations) 1994. Some
designers erroneously believe they do not have any duties towards
the health and safety of construction workers.
The NAO’s recommendations to the HSE, as set out below, have
been received positively by the department:
- work with the construction industry to develop tangible
measures linked to priority issues, such as falls from heights, a
principal cause of death and serious injury;
- develop the focus and nature of some of its recent initiatives
to target other areas: for example, building on its Safety and
Health Awareness Days by tackling designers who have a key part to
play in promoting health and safety in construction at the project
development stage;
- 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;
- develop a programme of evaluations of its various initiatives
which assesses the most important each year;
- 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; and
- work with organisations that influence the procurement of
construction work in the public sector, such as the Office of
Government Commerce and the Audit Commission, to ensure that health
and safety is considered as part of the process of reducing whole
life costs and improving value for money in public
procurement.
In addition, parent departments should work with their agencies,
NDPBs and all bodies that receive grants from government for
construction projects, as well as the HSE, to implement best
practice and improve health and safety.
Sir John Bourn said today:
"Construction workers have some of the most dangerous
jobs in the UK economy. I welcome the recent reduction in the
incidence rate of deaths and major injuries. But further and
sustained improvements in the health and safety performance of the
industry are required. The Health and Safety Executive must be
better able to assess and measure the impact of its own strategies
for ensuring that the industry takes ownership of its risks and
manages them in order to reduce avoidable injuries to people and
burdensome costs to the economy."
Notes for Editors
- Under health and safety legislation those who create risk are
legally responsible for controlling and managing that risk. The
Health and Safety Executive has a statutory responsibility to make
adequate arrangements for the enforcement of health and safety law
which it does by inspecting workplaces, research, investigating
accidents and complaints, issuing guidance and advice.
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website,
which is now at www.nao.org.uk. Hard copies can be
obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the
head of the National Audit Office which employs some 800 staff. He
and the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 38/04
All enquiries to Barry Lester, NAO Press Office:
Tel: 020 7798 7937
Mobile: 07748 181692