Raising safety levels
December 1st 2008

Leadership and training are key to improving safety performance for work at height, says Neil Murray

For centuries, the risks involved in working at height were accepted as simple facts of life and any injuries suffered as a result were put down to bad luck. Today, with an everincreasing amount of work being carried out at height, the requirement to improve site safety is greater than ever.

With the introduction of the 2007 Work at Height Regulations, we now have detailed guidance on how to work safely at height and employers and employees alike have clearly defined responsibilities; British Standards provide us with codes of practice; manufacturers have developed technologies to help reduce the risks. As a result, falls from height should be avoidable, yet, as must be acknowledged by the industry, they are still responsible for the overwhelming majority of fatalities and serious injuries in the workplace.

"Despite the progress made in recent years the number of fatalities in the industry has remained more or less static for the past 10 years" says Neil Murray, Group Head of Health and Safety with scaffolding and access specialist SGB. The annual death toll remains stubbornly between 70 and 80 deaths a year and more than half of these fatalities are through falls from height.

Despite that, Mr Murray believes the Work at Height Regulations will make a real difference. "The Work at Height Regulations are paying dividends in encouraging people to design-out work at height wherever possible.

But the biggest change is that these regulations require you to have proper organisation, planning and competence at every level, not just on site", he says.

The Work at Height Regulations are about much more than the physical equipment for safe work at height.

Whether you are a designer, construction client, a quantity surveyor or a contractor, if you specify work at height then you must be competent in safety for it, and be involved in the organisation and planning of the work.

But, insists Mr Murray, safer working is about more than regulation. "We need the regulatory framework but regulations must follow practice" he says. Moreover, good practice requires good leadership. "The approach taken by the client and the main contractor is what really matters; they are the ones who can make the most difference" says Mr Murray.

Tackling behavioural safety In recent years, the industry has started to go beyond the regulatory framework to tackle the behavioural aspect of safe and un-safe working. "When you mention behavioural issues, most people tend to assume you're talking about the behaviour of people on site, those doing the actual work. But if we were to load all the responsibility onto them we'd never get anywhere" says Mr Murray.

"People seem to forget that leadership is about leaders.

If you want to make a difference, don't start at the bottom; start at the top" he adds. "You must have a good robust health and safety management system, which includes the leaders of the business – that is your starting point." Similarly, the issue of competence is frequently raised as a key to improving safety standards in the industry.

"It's critical", says Mr Murray, "but the competence of the people doing the work should be a given. Without competent management, site safety can never improve."

The role of training Training is key here, according to Mr Murray, citing SGB's three-day Health and Safety Competence for Managers course as an illustration. Over 800 SGB managers, up to and including board directors, have completed the course in the past five years. Mr Murray says this has had a direct impact on SGB's accident frequency rate (the number of reportable accidents per 100,000 hours worked) which is now a slender 0.09 compared to 1.23 in 2000.

An understanding of the full impact of unsafe working is essential – and for managers that includes understanding the business implications. "We have calculated that, based on actual examples, the average cost to a business of a three-day accident is in the order of £16,000 – and that's excluding compensation payments." says Mr Murray. "So you see, any investment you make in improving health and safety will pay dividends." So are we winning? Mr Murray thinks we are. Changes in the safety culture of the industry are starting to have an effect and the full impact of the Work at Height Regulations will soon be felt. "The industry as a whole has moved on and trade bodies like the NASC have built their reputations on health and safety. No scaffolders have been killed falling from height since 2004" says Mr Murray. "The Work at Height Regulations have been in place for three years, so it's early days for them. I think we will be seeing improvements soon, both as a direct result of the regulations and the changing culture of the industry", he adds.

In the meantime, we still have those static accident figures. When will they start to fall? "There's a huge chunk of the industry that acts on its own, without reference to anyone else" says Mr Murray. "Success is about getting to the trades in sectors of the industry. We will see improvements in the accident figures when we get to these other parts of the industry."

University of Cambridge project SGB's approach to safe working at height was illustrated on a recent project for the University of Cambridge.

Here SGB was specified to supply scaffolding and – through a joint venture with HAKI – a temporary roof to provide access and weather protection while Haymills built a rooftop extension to the 130m long building.

Health and safety management was critical as not only was the building to be fully occupied throughout the 39-week duration of the project, but the building's central location meant that the safety of motor traffic and pedestrians had to be taken into account.

"It was a classic example of safety planning", says Murray, "Because all the work was taking place at roof level, we designed an access solution using our CUPLOK scaffolding system which would allow the safe storage of materials and equipment at roof level, including a special platform to receive deliveries of materials. With the HAKI roof tied into the CUPLOK scaffolding we effectively created a safe indoor environment for the contractor to work in." The £3 million project provides a case-study in collaborative working and a design-led approach to safety management.

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