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Posted By john r sharp
One for construction colleagues.
HSE have reported that there have been 37 deaths in the construction industry from April to June of this year.
I have not seen any publicity about this in any newspaper or publication.
What are we, the safety industry ie the professionals, doing about this carnage?
There are lots of platitudes, speeches etc about reducing fatalities.
To repeat myself- what are WE going to do?
Thoughts/ actions?
John Sharp
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Posted By Raymond Rapp
John,
Sadly the deaths in the construction industry do not recieve much publicity largely because they are usually individual tragedies and reflects the lack of societal concern. Whereas, one death of a prominent individual attributable to work results in a public enquiry. Life is anything but fair.
Having said that, there are something in the region of 5,000 deaths per year on the roads and little is made of these. Once again 'society' seems to reflect the tolerable human cost associated with roads.
Back to your point, a colleague was telling me about the risks of working in the construction industry, where caution is substituted with haste in order to get the job done. Safety he said, is virtually non-exsitant on some sites. Although I do not work in the construction industry I have seen and heard similar stories and only by severe punitive measures being introduced will there be a change in the safety culture. Hence, we come back to my original point. Would people be willing to pay more for houses, refurbishment etc for the extra cost of good safety practices - I am not so sure.
Ray
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Posted By Jim Walker
Not being in the construction industry, I'm not really sure where the problem lies, but that won't stop me from guessing!
The client picks whoever can do the contract the cheapest, this surely means cutting corners. Cutting H&S corners is an easy target, after all the odds of incurring financial penalties for breaches seem to be receding daily.Especially if your company is not small and the responsible person is unidentifiable.
Clobber a few clients I say. Doesn't the DCM regs allow for this as a client responsibility.
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Posted By reg.a.elliott
I agree with all the comments made about this issue, just one thing(and this doesn't affect the validity of your arguments in the slightest), It was reported in HSE Direct E146:03 29 July 2003 that the actual figure of fatalities for the first quarter which begun in April was 27.
Keep up the good work, my industry needs to have a higher profile, because with less skilled and more foreign labour exploitation and ignorance could cost an increasing number of lives.
Reg
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Posted By Andrew Gordon
Not just construction, Tragic but Health and Safety people need to be aware of what's happening in other industries too.
Death at Steel Works, Inquiry Launched
2 September 2003 news item
The HSE has launched an enquiry following the death on Saturday of a maintenance worker at the Alpha Steel plant in Newport, South Wales.
David Price, 54, was working on a piece of machinery involving a roller when he became trapped below the waist. Police and paramedics were called to the scene but could do nothing to save his life.
The steel works has had previous safety breaches in 1997, when two of its employees were injured in a series of explosions as a result of water pouring onto molten metal in a furnace from a burst pipe.
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Posted By David Waterton
Hi, why all the beating of bushes, or is it around them? Corporate manslaughter and a genuine will to hammer those at the top who are making the money and don't give safety a second thought is the answer. A couple of high profile prison sentences will have them "thinking"
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