Steel construction safety improvement beats target

No fatal injuries were reported by steel construction companies in the BCSA’s latest accident survey covering 2004.

In addition the injury frequency rate for steel construction accidents has halved over the past four years, putting the industry’s progress well ahead of that needed to meet Health & Safety Executive targets.

Injury frequency rate has reduced from 1.9 in 2000 to 0.9 in 2004. This measures the number of accidents to be expected in a working life of 100,000 hours, so that whereas the average worker could have expected nearly two reportable injuries in a working lifetime, now the expectation is for less than one. “To achieve a frequency rate of below one is a significant improvement,” said BCSA Health and Safety Manager Pete Walker. “We want to continue to drive that figure lower, with the ultimate target of zero.”

In its Revitalising Health and Safety initiative in 2000, the HSE set a target for reducing accidents by 10% annually by 2010, with progress to be monitored in 2004/5. The BCSA figures comfortably beat this target.

The survey also shows 92% compliance with the SKILL Card scheme exists in the steel construction industry.