Health & Safety News Brief
Occupational Health & Safety Information Service
What the HSE Chief Inspector of Construction had to say at the InterConstruct 06 Conference, Dublin, Ireland
Although progress is being made in the construction industry on health and safety much still remains to be done, the Health and Safety Executive’s Chief Inspector of Construction, Stephen Williams, told a recent conference.
Speaking at IOSH’s (the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health’s) InterConstruct 06 Conference, held at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin on 23-24 August 2006, Mr Williams told an audience of over 160 construction health and safety practitioners that: “Last week we were able to announce the lowest ever number of construction fatalities. We are still killing more than one person per week and my challenge to the industry is to get below that.”
Mr Williams said that crucial to achieving this was getting the industry to better manage the risks on site, and developing a better safety culture. He said he also wanted to see different elements of the industry working even more closely together.
“We’ve got to move the culture to allow anybody to challenge unsafe acts, and we need to make sure people are competent to recognise unsafe acts when they occur. We must remember that the workplace knows the problems and the solutions.
“It’s the partnership of industry, employees and stakeholders that can make a difference, but we’ve got to continue building trust. There are really good examples of partnership working in the UK, but there has to be a long term commitment to managing safety. We are driving forward in a number of ways, but the key way is by working in partnership.”
Mr Williams added: “I look at it this way. If we hadn’t made improvements, we would have killed 35 more people last year. 35 people are now still walking around today and that’s a very positive driver for me, but no industry can be proud of a record that still kills so many people. Each report of a fatal accident I receive really saddens me, but it’s what makes me get up and go to work each morning.”
Institution of Occupational Safety and Health The Grange, Highfield Drive, Wigston, Leicestershire, LE18 1NN, UK. Tel: +44 (0)116 257 3100 Fax: +44 (0)116 257 9141 www.iosh.org.uk