For years, the construction industry has constantly been promoting health and safety measures to make it a safer industry. If you go on to construction news sites, we can most definitely guarantee a new article covering a new incident…
In a shocking report published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) – 135 workers were killed in work-related accidents in 2022/23, while 561,000 workers sustained a self-reported non-fatal injury in the workplace during the same period…
This figure is shocking and needs to frankly change.
Despite advancements in safety regulations and technology, the sector continues to grapple with alarming rates of health and safety fatalities. From falls, and electrical hazards to equipment-related accidents – the risks are various and demand urgent attention.
So, what are companies and government organisations doing to promote health & safety, raise awareness, and educate people on these matters?
Health and Safety Executive
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched a new campaign to raise awareness on Asbestos.
Absestos is a naturally occurring mineral used in construction, but when inhaled can cause serious health issues, including lung cancer and mesothelioma. According to a report published by UKATA, there were over 5,000 asbestos-related deaths per year – which clearly shows that it is important to educate people on it.
The campaign – ‘Asbestos; Your Duty’ which launched earlier this year, aims to improve the understanding of the legal duty to manage asbestos. One of the key aims of the campaign was to raise awareness, and to educate workers to comply with the law and prevent exposure to the dangerous substance.
Sarah Albon, HSE’s chief executive said: “To keep people safe from the harms of asbestos, a culture of safely managing asbestos is needed in our building industry and among those responsible for buildings.
“Asbestos exposure in Great Britain is still the single greatest cause of work-related deaths due to exposures decades ago.
“Together, we must protect people in the workplace and reduce future work-related ill health.”
BAM Construction & Ventures UK Ltd
For years, BAM Construction have been promoting health & safety, as well as mental health.
On a campaign listed on their website – ‘Your Safety is My Safety’ has an objective of achieving a standard of excellence in all matters related to health & safety.
Royal BAM Group looks to ensure that:
-Every possible form of injury and ill health that could result from our work activities is prevented.
-The requirements, wishes, and expectations of the client are satisfied.
-Every effort is made to prevent any negative impact that our work activities may have upon personal property and the environment.
-Operational processes have a controlled course and are continuously improved.
BAM’s safety culture campaign ‘Your Safety is My Safety’ is running. This campaign aims for zero accidents and that can only be achieved through a joint approach. That is what they are jointly responsible for. At all their locations, at home, on the way to work, and at the office. Your Safety is My Safety’ is the first uniform global safety campaign for all BAM locations.
In a statement, they summarised: “’Safety is unconditional. It is more important than planning or profit. More important than anything you can think of’.
“After a hard day’s work, we all want to go home safely. Get up the next day healthy and start a new working day: a safe working day’.
“Safety is something we work on together. That’s why we make all our employees aware of their responsibilities. Not only BAM’s 20,000 people on the payroll, but also our partners, suppliers and the clients with whom we work on a daily basis. We take responsibility for ourselves and for each other and society; on location, on the road and in the office.”
Kier Group
Again, over the years, Kier Group has been publishing new health and safety policies, promoting health and safety via press releases and as well as other forms of marketing and communications.
But what are they actually doing?
In a recent report published by their chief executive, Andrew Davies said: “Kier recognises its responsibility under current safety and health legislation and believes that incidents are preventable. This belief underpins our commitment to people and assets in support of Kier’s strategy. We will ensure that all workplace risks are identified and mitigated to an acceptable level. Whilst ensuring we provide a framework to support the wellbeing of our staff.”
To ensure they efficiently implement health and safety practices – they mentioned they would:
Through visible and active leadership, ensure that employees are aware that working safely is a
condition of employment – they will:
• Identify and mitigate to an acceptable level, workplace safety and health hazards.
• Ensure employees are competent to undertake the tasks required.
• Ensure employees are empowered to delay or postpone any activity that is considered unsafe.
• Integrate health, safety and wellbeing matters into our business decisions and actions.
• Engage with the workforce stakeholders, business partners and supply chain colleagues to ensure
that their health, safety and wellbeing management standards and practices meet or exceed the
expectations of this policy.
• Identify and fulfil our compliance obligations, including under all legislation, standards, and codes of practice, which are relevant to our business.
• Strive for continual improvement in health, safety, and wellbeing performance, and publicly report our performance on a regular basis.
• Provide our employees with information on occupational health, benefits, and wellbeing.
• Provide their employees with mental health support and awareness and offer mental health training to those that wish to support their colleagues.
• Comply with client specific requirements including, but not limited to, occupational health, working
hours and fatigue management.
And a few others to name…
Speaking to Design & Build UK, Lee Hewitt, Health, Safety & Environment Director at Balfour Beatty, said: “As a founding member of the Health in Construction Leadership Group, we have long been committed to treating health like safety and ensuring that the construction and infrastructure sector is the leading industry for occupational health and disease prevention.
“To stimulate continued momentum, we recently shared Balfour Beatty’s experience of developing and implementing a Health and Wellbeing Maturity Matrix Tool as an example of best practice during a free webinar hosted by The Health in Construction Leadership Group.
“In addition, as part of our approach to raise awareness of mental health we continue to support the Mates in Mind initiative. Since the initiative launched, we have trained over 600 mental health first aiders in the UK and delivered 12,000 ‘Start the Conversation’ sessions to give people the confidence to speak up and signpost individuals to the support available.”
Note to editors:
BAM: https://www.healthinconstruction.co.uk/about_us
BAM: https://www.bam.co.uk/docs/default-source/policies/healthandsafetypolicy.pdf?sfvrsn=29f150c2_28
Asbestos deaths: https://www.ukata.org.uk/library/asbestos-health-statistics/
Kier report/comments all taken from: https://www.kier.co.uk/media/hwykzncj/35035-kier-pol-gr-001-health-safety-and-wellbeing-policy.pdf
