FaTaL Risks Campaign 2004: HSE announces construction blitz

HSE Press Release: E064-04 - 18 May 2004

Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will be visiting construction sites nationwide during June 2004 in a bid to reduce the number of fatal and serious injuries in the industry.

This latest 'blitz' by HSE forms part of the FaTal Risks Campaign 2004, an EU wide initiative to address the three major causes of fatal and serious injuries in construction.

Site visits will take place between 7 and 25 June. HSE inspectors will concentrate on:

• F - falls arising from work at height; and
• T - transport on site including mobile plant and vehicles; and
• L - lifting heavy loads with cranes and other lifting machines.

Falls, transport and lifting incidents account for over 70% of all fatal injuries in construction, almost 300 people have died from these causes in the last 5 years.

HSE's Chief Inspector for Construction Kevin Myers said:

"A good deal has been done by the construction industry to control the risks from falls, transport and lifting operations, however, the number of fatal and serious injuries is not declining fast enough. All involved, from client to contractor, must use the spur of this EU initiative to make further progress to secure effective control and changes to the underlying culture that are needed to advance and sustain improvements in construction health and safety. We are now looking to clients, designers, planning supervisors and contractors to take account of these hazards well before work starts on site. To help achieve this goal we are working with key industry intermediaries including CONIAC and trade associations to support this campaign.

"At this stage a number of organisations have already pledged support to help drive this message home to their members".

Prior to the site blitz phase, HSE's construction sector will issue 4 pages of free guidance to industry stakeholders; copies are available for clients, designers, planning supervisors and contractors involved in construction procurement, design and planning.

The guidance, available from http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction details health and safety matters that should be considered by designers, included in contractor risk assessments and the project health and safety plan accepted by clients before work starts.

Accidents resulting from falls, transport or lifting are a high priority for HSE, it is likely that enforcement action, including prohibiting work, will be taken on sites where effective precautions are not in place. Inspectors will follow-up all cases where significant failings are identified to ensure that the relevant dutyholder identifies the underlying causes and prepares a programme to secure improvements. This follow-up work will involve clients, designers and planning supervisors where appropriate. However, by giving this advice, we hope such action will be unnecessary in most cases.

Notes to editors

1. The FaTaL Risks Campaign 2004 is the latest blitz by HSE construction inspectors, aimed at raising awareness within the construction industry of the improvements that must be made in order to reduce the number of fatal and serious accidents. In 2003 HSE's second national construction blitz found no improvement on falls from height. See press notice E193:03 and C044:03

2. The FaTaL Risks Campaign is the vehicle through which HSE's construction division will implement the EC wide initiative addressing the three topics agreed at the 2004 Senior Labour Inspectors conference (SLIC).

3. Details of regional launches will be issued on 1 June 2004. HSE will facilitate media interviews and site visits with inspectors. Please contact Denise Lewisohn.

4. Photos (jpegs) illustrating the three topics are available from HSE Press Office.

5. Copies of the free guidance are available from HSE Press Office.

6. A further press release detailing the campaign findings will be issued at the end of the blitz.

7. Provisional statistics from operational data indicate there were 72 fatal accidents in the construction industry between 1 April 2003 and 31 March 2004.

8. CONIAC Construction industry advisory committee.

9. The construction industry has committed to a steep change in health and safety performance. This was demonstrated by setting challenging Revitalising targets and adopting action plans at the Construction Safety Summit, on 27 February 2001. The construction industry set the following Revitalising targets for improvement.

To reduce:

• the incidence rate of fatalities and major injuries by 40 per cent by 2004/5 and 66 per cent by 2009/10;
  
• the incidence rate of cases of work-related ill health by 20 per cent by 2004/5 and 50 per cent by 2009/10; and
  
• the number of working days lost from work-related injury and ill health by 20 per cent by 2004/5 and by 50 per cent by 2009/10.

Press enquiries

All enquiries from journalists should be directed to the HSE Press Office