No amount of lucky shamrocks, rabbits feet or other good luck talisman are going to do you any good at all if you’re a construction operative, or a roofer, tiler or slater in the construction industry. What you need is an employer with a firm grip on his legal health and safety obligations and a willingness to put workplace and employee safety firmly above profit. Statistics would suggest that there is sometimes a struggle to get those priorities in the correct order.
At the moment construction workers are suffering a disproportionate number of fatalities and serious injuries. They make up just 5% of the UK workforce but suffer an appalling 28% of all fatal workplace injuries (that’s 2.3 in every 100,000 workers) and 10% of all reported major injuries. True, the number of fatalities reported annually has declined markedly from 124 in 1990-91 to 49 in 2011-12, but that decline is a much slower one than those recorded for the second and third (after construction) most dangerous industries to work in – land-based & fishing and manufacturing.
So, where’s the glue coming unstuck in construction health and safety model? The Health and Safety Executive’s latest batch of data show that 51% of workers who die as a result of a construction accident do so due to injuries sustained in a fall (from height). The other causes of fatal injuries put together make up less than that one cause. Falls are also the most prevalent cause of the reported serious injuries, accounting for 29% of them. Only in the category of injuries requiring three or more days off work (over three day injuries) do falls slip down the prevalence rankings, coming in as the cause of just 10% of injuries.
Construction Accidents- the common causes
The most common cause for over three day injuries was handling or moving, accounting for 31% of injuries in this category, but just 11% of major injuries (and no fatalities). Slips and trips caused 23% of over three day injuries and 25% of major injuries.
The highest proportion of major injuries was suffered by construction operatives, electricians and electrical fitters and carpenters and joiners. The workers most likely to avoid major injury included supervisors and managers, bricklayers and those working in road construction.
The overall cost to the economy of the equivalent of every worker in the construction industry taking .34 days off work each year due to a work related accident is colossal and avoidable. The cost in lives lost or changed forever due to construction accidents is, in this day and age, unacceptable and more importantly for those yet uninjured and still working in construction, again, avoidable.
Construction accident compensation claim?Specialist advice available
Have you been injured whilst working on a construction project? If so, you may be entitled to claim damages and our specialist accident solicitors can advise you on how to claim compensation.
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