Health

and
safety
report
December 4
2013
Word count - 1636
Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 2
HSE contribution and effectiveness to reducing accidents and fatalities ................................. 2
Application ............................................................................................................................. 2
Enforcement .......................................................................................................................... 4
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 6
References ............................................................................................................................. 7


Introduction

This report will give an evaluation of one factor that influences health and safety within the
construction industry. The chosen factor was the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Included in this report is the HSEs contribution to reducing accident and fatality rates and
also a justification of their effectiveness in reducing accident and fatality rates in the
construction industry. The HSE are responsible for application and enforcement of
legislation that has been produced by the government and this report will describe how
both of these help the HSE contribute to reducing accident and fatality rates. For many
years it has been associated with a relatively poor health and safety performance,
accounting for one in three of work-related deaths, one in three HSE prosecutions and one
in two prohibition notices (HSE, 2005). This is the main reason why HSE is focusing on
reducing accident and fatality in the construction industry as it is the most dangerous
industry.

HSE contribution and effectiveness to reducing accidents and
fatalities


Application

Routine inspections are carried out on a construction site to make sure that all the works
and temporary works are safe for workers involved in the construction and also members of
the public that could be walking passed the site. The site is inspected by reviewing relevant
documents that the duty holder possess, interviewing people involved in the site and by
observing site conditions, standards and practices within the site boundary that work will be
carried out under the duty holders delegation. HSE investigates construction sites to secure
compliance with legal requirements such as the Health and Safety at Work ect Act 1974
(HSWA). They act as an enforcing authority to improve the overall standard of health and
safety within the site. This reduces the accident and fatality rates on a construction site as
Figure 1 Fatal injury rates within the EU
(HSE, 2013)
the HSE make sure that the duty holders are abiding by the law for health and safety using
legislation. Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM) are enforced
by the HSE on projects which includes or intends to include construction work as these
projects will need to follow certain health and safety requirements.
While the HSE was inspecting a site and they noticed something that was not following
health and safety legislation they could rectify this problem so that more damage would not
occur and reduce the chances of an accident or fatality occurring. The inspections could be
used to improve peoples knowledge of health and safety so that they know how to carry
out works in a safe manner reducing the risks associated so that there is less chance of an
accident occurring.
These inspections carried out by the HSE are very effective in reducing accident and fatality
rates as they check to see if standards within the construction site are at the required level
to comply with the law. When these inspections are carried out it could result in the
companies getting prosecuted for failing to comply with health and safety legislation so this
will make sure that the companies involved in the inspection have a high standard of health
and safety.
Figure 1 highlights a report that Eurostat published which showed that Great Britain had
one of the lowest fatal accidents at work in 2010 with 0.71 per 100,000 compared to all
other countries in the European
Union (Eurostat, 2013). As of
2007 Great Britains fatality rate
per 100,000 decreased by a
significant amount compared to
previous years and this could be
because of the introduction of
CDM 2007. This was introduced
into the construction industry which has one of the
highest numbers of fatalities compared to other
industries so this could be a contributing factor to the fatality decrease.
Carrying out regular inspections is an effective way of reducing fatality rates for workers. In
2011/12 48 workers were fatally injured in the construction industry which is lower than the
average number of fatalities for workers from 2007/08 to 2011/12 (53). The number of
members of the public that were fatally injured in the construction industry in 2011/12 was
found to be 2 which is also lower than the average number of fatalities for members of the
public from 2007/08 to 2011/12 (3). This shows that the inspections that the HSE carries
out is helping reduce accident and fatality rates because the number of workers and the
number of members of the public for the past year are less than the average death for the
past 5 years. When the HSE carries out these inspections they improve the health and
safety on that site so it is at a required standard and this will reduce the deaths caused by
that particular site.

Enforcement

Our primary function is to secure the health, safety and welfare of people at work and to
protect others from risks to health and safety from work activity (HSE, Annual Report,
2013). The HSE contributes to reducing accident and fatality rates by enforcing that health
and safety is properly followed by everyone involved in a construction project and that they
abide by the HSWA. The HSE enforces regulations such as the CDM 2007, where necessary,
so that the duty holders are following the health and safety requirements. In carrying out its
enforcement role, the HSE follows two internal operational procedures investigation and
prosecution. The enforcing authorities may give the duty holders responsible for a
construction site advice about health and safety and let them know that they might not be
complying with the law. In some cases the HSE might give improvements and ban notices to
the duty holders or in severe cases they may prosecute if they see something that is not in
compliance with the HSWA. Investigations are carried out when an accident has occurred
during the construction process and the HSE has to work out why the accident occurred and
if it was because health and safety was not followed correctly. If the accident happened
because a duty holder did not follow the health and safety requirement then they could be
prosecuted by the HSE and eventually fined.
Figure 2 Prosecutions instituted by the HSE
(HSE, 2013)
The HSE has the power to issue two different types of notices to the duty holder;
improvement notice and prohibition notice. The improvement notice is given to duty
holders when an inspection has been carried out and a breach of health and safety has been
found. After the duty holder receives this notice they have to perform the action described
within a given time period to increase their health and safety. Prohibition notices are also
given after inspections but if a duty holder receives one of these then the work has to stop
immediately until the correct action has been taken. These notices are effective within the
construction industry because if the duty holder does not perform the action described in
these notices then could be prosecuted as they are not abiding by the laws and regulations.
The figure of workers deaths within the construction industry in 2012/13 was found to be 39
which is 26% lower than the average for the last 5 five years (53). This figure is also the
lowest that has been recorded by the HSE followed closely by 2009/10 which had a fatality
number of 42 workers. The fatality rate of workers per 100 000 was 1.9 in 2012/13 again
lower than the five year average of 2.3 (HSE, 2013). Handing out notices to the duty holders
improves the overall health and safety on the construction site so this could be a direct link
to the reduction in fatalities in the last year compared with a 5 year average. The HSE
should not have to hand out notices to duty holders as they should already be following the
required laws and regulations but this does not happen on all construction sites so there
needs to be a financial risk for not following health and safety correctly.

The HSE prosecuted 597 cases in 2012/13 which is an increase of 4% from the year before
(HSE, 2013). This shows that the HSE carrying out investigations are effective as it is
allowing them to prosecute more
cases which could be because they
are gathering more evidence
against duty holders who are not
following by the health and safety
legislation. Figure 2 shows that the
number of cases and convictions for 2012/13 was
higher than the previous 4 years which shows that
the HSE is effective in prosecuting duty holders as the number of cases and convictions has
increased so they are making sure more and more construction sites are following the
health and safety laws and regulations so that accident and fatality rates decrease
throughout the construction industry.
Conclusion

In conclusion the HSE is effective in reducing accident and fatality rates by carrying out
inspections, investigations and also by prosecuting duty holders. This is done by following
legislation and regulation such as the HSWA and CDM 2007 respectively. The inspections
are carried out to make sure all the works and temporary works that are present on the
construction site following the health and safety legislation. Investigations are carried out
by the HSE when they have been notified of an accident to see if the accident is because of
health and safety not being followed through the correct legislation. Notices that the HSE
hand out also contribute to decreasing accident and fatality rates as when the duty holder
receives one of these they have to follow the advice given or they run the risk of being
prosecuted. Prosecution rates have increased in the last year which shows that the HSE are
noticing more sites not following health and safety and are punishing them for not abiding
by this, increasing the health and safety of everyone involved in the site.









References

Health and Safety Executive, 2013.Annual Report and Accounts.[pdf] London: The Stationary
Office. Available at :<http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/reports/1213/ar1213.pdf> [12
December 2013]

Health and Safety Executive, 2012. Construction Industry Statistics.[online] Available at
<http://www.hse.gov.uk/STATISTICS/industry/construction/index.htm>[Accessed 15
December 2013)

Health and Safety Executive, 2013.Health and Safety in Construction in Great Britain,[pdf]
Available at:http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/industry/construction/construction.pdf
[Accessed 15 December 2013]

Health and Safety Executive, 2009.Enforcement Policy Statement.[online] Available
at:<http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hse41.pdf>[Accessed 16 December 2013]

Health and Safety Executive, 2013. Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. [online]
Available at:< http://www.hse.gov.uk/legislation/hswa.htm>[Accessed 4 January 2014]

Health and Safety Executive, 2013. Legislation Owned and Enforced by HSE and Local
Authorities. [online] Available at:< http://www.hse.gov.uk/legislation/enforced.htm>
[Accessed 6 December 2014]