A British interiors fit-out company, previously prosecuted by the health and safety regulator, is calling on their construction colleagues to act now in improving standards and reduce the number of deaths, injuries and cases of ill-health in their industry.
The company, whose clients include high-end retail brands, is backing the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) annual construction refurbishment initiative, which began recently. The nationwide drive will target the unsafe work practices that make construction one of Britain’s most dangerous industries.
John Graham, Newman Scott’s new joint managing director, “I would urge everyone in the construction industry to take action now in protecting the health and safety of your workers. Don’t let a prosecution or worse the death or injury of a colleague be the catalyst for change.”
Construction Accounts for 31 Percent of All Deaths
Although construction is 5 percent of Britain’s workforce it accounts for 31 percent of all fatalities, with 42 deaths in 2014/15 and 76,000 cases of reported ill-health. HSE will be targeting the refurbishment sites as they account for more than half of all the deaths, injuries and cases of ill-health within the construction industry.
HSE Inspectors was slated to visit refurbishment sites across the country for several weeks to challenge the poor standards that are putting the health and safety of workers at risk.
Newman Scott was visited by HSE during the 2013 inspection initiative and the poor practice found resulted in the company and one of their directors being prosecuted.
“We were mortified at the thought of being prosecuted because we had a good safety record and thought we were pretty good at health and safety,” Graham said. “A sub-contractor was using a poorly erected mobile scaffold, on an escalator between the ground and first floor, and although no one was hurt there was a very real and high risk of injury, or worse, to the operatives.
“We had a choice, we could consider ourselves lucky there were no injuries or we could hold a full and frank internal investigation, understand what had gone wrong and make sure our sites were safe for our workers.”
Newman Scott had the processes in place but they were not being followed. Their decision to get to the root-cause of the incident has created a sea change in their organization’s health and safety culture, an example HSE hopes other construction companies will learn from.
Author Kori Shafer-Stack, Editor, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in post-injury response procedures and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: kstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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