The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has recently published its Construction Statistics in Great Britain, 2020. The statistics reveal that there is still a way to go when it comes to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of those who work in the construction industry.
The Construction Industry
This HSE report contains statistics related to the ‘Construction’ industry. This includes three broad industry groups – those who work in the construction of buildings, civil engineering and specialised construction activities such as plumbing or joinery.
The report highlights that this accounts for around 7% of the UK’s total workforce.
Fatalities in the industry
The report shows that in construction there have been 40 fatal injuries to workers, and 4 to members of the public in 2019/20.
This number, although shocking, is similar to numbers seen in previous years. The report shows that the average fatalities to workers are 37 per year, and to members of the public, 5 per year – for the last 5 years.
Although falls from height are not the main cause of non-fatal injuries in the industry (accounting for 19% in 2019/20), it is responsible for 47% of the fatalities recorded in 2019/20. Working at height remains the most dangerous activity in the construction industry – something we as expert trainers are working towards changing.
Work from height training
As mentioned above, working at height remains the most dangerous activity within the construction industry when reviewing the fatalities caused in 2019/20.
Here at MRS Training & Rescue, we have a portfolio of working at height training courses – suitable for those looking to work in a wide range of sectors. Our working at height courses are accredited by ECITB, PASMA, MATS and the Global Wind Organisation (GWO).
What sets our working at height training apart is the practical elements which are part of all the courses we offer. From our Rooftop Safety training course to our GWO training for the Renewables industry – we have the height rigs and training equipment needed to teach delegates what they need to know to stay as safe as possible.
COVID-19 and safety statistics
The HSE report highlights that COVID-19 has impacted on workplace injury and ill health data for 2019/20 – and that they plan to release more details on this impact in future.
During the first UK lockdown, we, unfortunately, had to close our training centres and stop our courses. However, whilst closed – we made changes to ensure that our training centres and courses followed social distancing, hygiene and PPE measures required to ensure delegates could train safely when lockdown restrictions eased.
In this second lockdown, we remain open – and able to deliver training courses onsite at client locations and in our training centres. Although many accreditation bodies have extended their certification validity dates to holders to account for lockdown restrictions – we know many of our clients were keen to complete training as usual, to ensure their employees could continue to work confidently and safely.
If you would like to learn more about the training courses we offer, or the steps we’ve taken to make our training ‘COVID safe’ – don’t hesitate to contact us.
