The importance of site safety
In the construction industry alone, there are 58,000* non-fatal injuries to workers each year. Slips, trips and falls account for 24% of these injuries. This can lead to a huge loss in working hours with good health and safety culture on site many accidents can be avoided.
Legal Responsibility
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974** (HSWA) places a duty on all employers “to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work” of all their employees, and persons working on their premises. It is essential that you have the correct health and safety policies and procedures in place otherwise your business could be fined, sued or even banned from operating. If the HSE find that a site has not met minimum health and safety regulations, they have the power to take action against your business.
Employees also have a ‘duty of care’ to themselves, their employer, their colleagues and other people at work
Site Safety
Contractors and others in control of sites must manage work to ensure that people can move safely around the site. This means that sites should be kept clean and orderly to reduce the chance of injury through slips and trips. Everyone can make a contribution to reducing slips and trips on site. Employees should be encouraged that if they see a risk, they should either take action or report it to someone who can. Key aspects of construction slips and trips include uneven surfaces, obstacles, wet or slippery surfaces.
Positive interventions
Creating a proactive health and safety culture across a site relies heavily on the individuals working on site, taking notice of hazards before they become a problem. One way to encourage employees to do this is through positive interventions. This means that employees are actively encouraged to speak up about potential hazards and action can be taken to minimise the risks.
Welsh Water and their contractors run a fantastic initiative to facilitate proactive site safety interventions. The monthly Positive Interventions awards acknowledge and encourages site personnel who report any potential hazard. They are also rewarded for their intervention as well as a donation to their chosen charity.
We are very proud to say that two of Steelway’s installations team have now won such awards. Lee Cherry won both the contractor monthly award and the Welsh Water prize and Dan Kirkham won the contractor prize in January and may well go on to win the Welsh Water award.
Lee Cherry won the Positive Intervention of the Month award in December 2018 for ensuring steel erectors were made aware of persons working below. This meant that an exclusion zone was set up and monitored whilst erecting activities were taking place. Acting so quickly meant that any potential accidents were avoided. A donation of £25 has been made to Cancer Research on Lee’s behalf.
Daniel Kirkham won the contractors prize for January 2019 from Skanska who have nominated Daniel for the monthly award to Welsh Water. Oil from Welsh Water stores had spilt onto the pedestrian walkway. Daniel notified his superiors and then reported it to the Welsh Water offices. Action was taken immediately, sand was introduced to the oil to absorb it, reducing any trips and falls occurring.
Steelway’s dedication to safety
Here at Steelway we are fully committed to site safety and the safe installation of all our products. We are accredited to the Safe Contractor scheme and are externally audited annually by Achilles UVDB, RISQS, CHAS, FORS and twice a year by the BSI in relation to our Health & Safety, Quality and Environmental accreditations. Having recently passed an audit for BSI EN ISO 45001, we are currently awaiting our certification, demonstrating Steelway’s proactive approach towards Health & Safety.
Find out more about installation here.
Resources:
* : LFS, annual 2000/01 – 2017/18 and RIDDOR 2015/16-2017/18