With more than 7 560 accidents for 2017 reported nationally on site ( six fatal ) Deon Bester of the Master Builders Association of the Western Cape ( MBAWC ), says " these figures are unacceptably high ".
CONTRIBUTORS - TALKING TIMBER
High accident rate worrying
With more than 7 560 accidents for 2017 reported nationally on site ( six fatal ) Deon Bester of the Master Builders Association of the Western Cape ( MBAWC ), says " these figures are unacceptably high ".
By Ntsako Khosa
Health and safety on construction sites should be a huge concern to all parties involved .
Recent statistics from The Federated Employer ’ s Mutual Assurance Company ( RF ) ( PTY ) LTD ( FEM ), a provider of workmen ’ s compensation insurance to employers in the construction industry , show that more than R290-million went towards accidents on site .
“ We should strive for zero fatalities and zero harm . Education can go a long way towards eliminating accidents and achieving this target ,” says MBAWC ’ s occupational health and safety manager , Deon Bester .
Bester adds that the high number of accidents are caused by the lack of a safety culture on site among all parties . Other reasons include :
• The use of relatively unskilled and untrained labour to perform construction work ;
• Poor supervision of workers on site ;
• Inadequate planning of tasks , such as not ensuring that the right tools and equipment are available prior to commencing work ;
• People taking shortcuts when performing tasks and not adhering to proper procedures and processes ; and
• The workforce in the construction industry seemingly disregarding their own safety and that of others around them .
Contractors across the country that are registered for workmen ’ s compensation with FEM experienced 7 560 accidents requiring medical attention , of which there were six fatalities and 1 019 people left permanently disabled , during 2017 alone .
Accidents on site may happen in one of four ways : employees may be struck by objects ; they fall from heights ; they slip , trip or fall onto the same level ; and lastly
PIXABAY via motor vehicle accidents when transporting workers to and from site .
Bester describes a typical scenario of how an accident may occur with scaffolding .
“ A contractor builds a high-level scaffold according to the required standards , which includes a fully boarded work surface with no gaps through which someone could fall . The contractor then hands this scaffold over to another contractor to use for accessing a specific area on site . An unknown person climbs the scaffold and removes some of the boards to use elsewhere . Workers then use the scaffold to access an area to perform work and someone falls through the opening created by the removal of the working boards .”
TAKING RESPONSIBILITY
Bester believes that government has done as much as it can to address health and safety in construction .
“ We need to start at the top and ensure that management has ownership of health and safety on site and that health and safety processes and procedures are in place ,” he says .
Government has introduced stringent legislation through the Occupational Health and Safety Act ( OHSA ) as well as Construction Regulations . For Bester , the Construction Regulations have been written in a selfgoverning manner .
“ There are numerous parties involved in any construction project and each party is tasked with specific duties . Also , there are sufficient checks and balances required by the regulations to ensure that all parties are doing what is required of them . The process that must be followed involves the client ensuring that the principal contractor is compliant and the principal contractor ensuring that all other contractors on-site are compliant .
“ Ultimately , health and safety remain the responsibility of the employer , as well as all employees and there is very little , if anything , that government can do to address behaviour on a construction site .”
To that effect , he says that it is the supervisors on site that need to manage and enforce health and safety on site as stipulated by law . “ Workers need to understand their roles and responsibilities regarding health and safety in the workplace . In addition , worker behaviour needs to be addressed and there must be consequences for poor behaviour . The work itself needs to be properly planned by the contractor and sufficient information and resources must be made available to all on site ,” he advises .
60 JUNE / JULY 2018 //