Our business is keeping our clients and their workforce safe when working at height. We do our best to make the safety guidelines and protocols relating to working at height clear and easy to follow by keeping updated with the HSE website.
Building Safety Group Findings
As a not-for-profit consultancy, Building Safety Group handles safety on around 2,200 construction sites in the UK. The organisation recently reported in several publications that although overall site safety has improved across the board, leading to a drop in accidents reported from 226 in the previous three months to 177 in the quarter up to November, accidents at height have increased.
• Accidents overall have dropped by 21% in the August-November quarter, with the most common injuries being carrying and lifting.
• Falls from height make up 24% of the total accidents reported, up from 4% on the previous quarter.
Managing Director of the Building Safety Group, Paul Kimpton urged construction firms to continue aiming for an overall lower figure. He said: “177 is still a very large number of people hurt and it is therefore essential that companies of every size adhere to health and safety measures.”
He went on to say that the increase in falls from height is especially alarming due to the fact that there is little reason for accidents at height when the right equipment used and the right protocols followed. And we have to agree with him. Although there is risk involved in working at height, it’s a very carefully managed risk. Skills like fall arrest training are exceptionally well designed to give those working at height a clear set of guidelines and protocols to follow in order to keep themselves and those around them safe at all times.
HSE Warnings
The HSE has issued another warning as figures are publicised to show working at height is the single biggest workplace killer in the UK. HSE advice says failure to carry out proper risk assessments and introduce adequate safety measures from a trusted firm like ours leaves workers open to potentially fatal accidents.
What Our Experts Say
We have to side with the HSE and Paul Kimpton on this issue. Working at height presents a seriously dangerous working environment when inadequate safety measures are put in place, but time and again rogue firms insist on cutting corners. The HSE recently fined a Lancashire builder who was found to be working with no safety equipment 7m up a scaffold just three hours after being issued with a Prohibition Notice by a health and safety inspector for the exact same offence. It’s this kind of behaviour we really need to nip in the bud if we’re to grow the UK construction industry into a safe, well-respected trade.