Trojan horse lifts safety awareness

A second phase of the Trojan Horse safety messaging project is in progress after phase one showed the technique was successful in raising awareness of safety issues on site.

The idea of the project is to apply easily understood graphically represented safety messages direct to construction components. Phase one, which was carried out by the Steel Construction Institute and ran for a year to October 2004 drew wide support from industry bodies and trade associations. It tested messages related to steel sections, steel decking, precast components and trussed rafters. For the steel sections the message tested was ‘Sling safely’.

Face to face interviews tested workers’ awareness of the messages and whether they assimilated the information. The results were compared with control sites where no messages had been applied.

“The results were very positive,” said Steel Construction Institute principal engineer Viken Chinien. “The level of awareness and uptake of information were similar to showing the message to operatives individually.”

Phase one did not test the long-term effectiveness of the messages or whether the effect wears off over time.

“Phase two will address ways to reduce the long-term decay of the messages, for example by rotating messages or using different colours,” said Dr Chinien. It will also use messages aimed at a wider audience. “Slingers are specialist operatives. Phase two will cover a more general population of site operatives.” A wider range of messages will cover more general issues such as exposure to noise.

The research will run till July 2006 and results will be reported in a high-profile seminar. It is being sponsored by the Health and Safety Executive, with participation by the Major Contractors Group, the Construction Products Association, and a number of specialist trade associations including the BCSA.