A national interior fit-out company is calling for those in the sector to act now to improve standards and reduce the number of deaths or injuries…
Newman Scott, a national interior fit-out company, has urged those in the construction sector to improve standards and reduce the number of health and safety incidents in the industry. The firm, which has been previously prosecuted for failings, is backing a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) annual construction refurbishment initiative.
Newman Scott’s new Joint Managing Director John Graham said: “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.”
Figures revealed 31 per cent of all fatalities in 2014/15 were construction related, with 42 deaths and 76,000 cases of reported ill-health. This is despite the sector only making up five per cent of the workforce in Britain. The initiative will target the refurbishment sites as they account for more than half of all the deaths, injuries, and cases of ill-health.
Inspectors from the HSE will be visiting refurbishment sites across the country between the 14 September and 9 October. The regulator will challenge standards that are putting workers at risk.
Graham added: “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.
“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.”
The firm had processes in place to ensure safety, but they were not being followed. The organisation decided to get to the bottom of why the incident had occurred and as a result changed the culture of health and safety in their firm.
“We focused on improving the already positive safety culture in the company through better communication, more training, more competency checking and giving more ownership of health and safety to our employees,” Graham continued.
“Most importantly our employees knew they could say no, without fear of retribution, to any request from a client or director if they felt it could not be carried out without risking their health or their safety.
“Of course HSE has an enforcement function and this may make them appear formal but there was a genuine desire from them to help us make the workplace a safer, healthier place.
“We were treated with respect and courtesy and that helped us approach the whole experience in a positive way, maximising the improvements to the benefit of everyone on our sites.
“We cannot say that we will have no more lapses in the future. We can say that all our people sleep easier in their beds knowing that we are all doing all we can to make sure we have safer, healthier sites. That peace of mind is priceless.”
Jo Anderson, HSE’s lead for the construction initiative, said: “We are grateful to Newman Scott for sharing their experience and for how they have responded to the prosecution.
“We hope everyone can learn from their lessons and realise it is vital when carrying out construction work that the right management systems are in place so risks to workers’ health are controlled just as effectively as safety.
“Workers within construction are paying too high a toll on their health and safety when it is completely avoidable by planning the work, providing the right kit and making sure it is used properly.”