HSE must ‘do more’ to prevent construction deaths
The Health and Safety Executive must do more to prevent death and injuries in the construction industry, according to a new report from the Committee of Public Accounts.
Its report, which examines the record of the HSE in tackling health and safety problems in the industry, the effectiveness of inspections and its strategic approach, calls on the agency to adopt a new mixture of approaches.
In 2002-03 there were 71 construction worker deaths, with over 4,000 others suffering serious injuries.
Among the key recommendations are that the HSE should change its inspection regime to include more unannounced visits – to investigate whether these reveal more serious breaches of health and safety than notified visits.
Committee chairman Edward Leigh said: “The UK construction industry has a better health and safety record than other EU countries. But the industry’s record is still worse than in any other UK sector, and accounts for one in three fatalities from workplace accidents. It is simply unacceptable that 70 construction workers are killed each year and thousands more suffer major injuries.
“The HSE needs to do more. It should trial a mixture of approaches to its blitz visits, make better assessment of the impact it is having on trends in accident rates, and encourage clients and contractors alike to focus on long-term health and safety implications of building design.”
The report also suggests the HSE should introduce an annual survey to see whether health and safety attitudes are improving and research whether there is any correlation between accident rates and change of volume and type of work within the construction industry.
Also flagged up for consideration include investigation of any link between vulnerable workers and major injuries, and the sharing of intelligence with other agencies on illegal workers and gangmasters.
Increases of the deterrent effect of prosecution are also recommended, with the HSE urged to ask the Home Secretary to seek the establishment of sentencing guideline on health and safety offences from the Sentencing Advisory Panel Council. The report points out that though breaches of health and safety regulations are serious criminal offences, courts have tended not to impose the maximum available fines or penalties.
