60% increase of workers falling from height

The number of construction workers falling from height has increased by 60% according to shock figures from consultants at the Building Safety Group.

The data is based on accidents reported in the three months from May until July by Building Safety Group’s membership of more than 20,000 construction workers across the UK.

Injuries caused while lifting, handling and carrying also increased by 37% year-on-year.

Paul Kimpton, managing director of The Building Safety Group, said: “While a number of health & safety areas have improved, the areas that are the most serious and cause the most lasting damage have risen.

“These figures prove that there is no room for complacency in construction.  People have a right to go to work and return home in the same state of health that they left in the morning.

“However we all have a responsibility to make sure that people work safely, not only employers, but everyone on a site has responsibility to make sure that they are working in a way that is in line with good practice and good health & safety guidelines, and that they flag up anything they see that it dangerous.”

Source: Construction Enquirer

Lighthouse Safety Comments: Whenever we teach Health And Safety Courses, we continually badger on about the need for taking your own responsibility for Health and Safety. Sometimes that is the best level of protection. However, many accidents have still happened. Our argument is what is actually improving Health and Safety or medical provisions? We really only hear about the fatalities, but how many workers would have died years ago but today are saved because of a more well equipped NHS?