The Effectiveness of Health

and Safety Within the

Construction Industry
Safety and Construction Management


Word Count-1411





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Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................ 2
About the HSE ........................................................................................................... 2
Effectiveness of the HSE Contribution ....................................................................... 2
Application .............................................................................................................. 3
Enforcement ........................................................................................................... 4
Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 5
References ................................................................................................................. 6


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Introduction

Within this document will be a critical evaluation of one of the factors that influence health
and safety. The factor chosen to be evaluated is the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), more
specifically to what would be evaluated is the effectiveness of their contribution to reducing
accident and fatality rates in the construction industry. A brief explanation of the HSE will be
given within the document along with an analysis of the methods used and their
effectiveness to reducing accident and fatality rates in the working environment.

About the HSE

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a crown non-departmental public body,
established under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA). It is sponsored by
the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (HSE, Annual Report, 2013).The HSE is
responsible for regulating work related health and safety throughout the UK. This is done
through inspections, interventions as well as giving the necessary advice and raising
awareness; if required the HSE and can also apply investigation and enforcement action.
Health and safety is primarily an issue delegated to the UK parliament and in Scotland and
Wales, despite this effective working arrangements have been developed between the HSE
and the administrations to ensure areas of interest are managed (HSE, Annual Report, 2013)


Effectiveness of the HSE Contribution
The HSE contributes to health and safety in a number of ways, a small selection of these
ways include holding events to raise awareness of health and safety, providing guidance and
advice to both employers and employees and the enforcement of legislation. As previously
mentioned the HSE is a public body established to regulate work- related health and safety
throughout the UK. So resultantly the HSE are responsible for the guidance given, the
application and enforcement of the legislation set by the government.


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Application

To define application, this is targeted towards anyone within the construction industry
abiding to the laws and regulations set by the HSE, in order to reduce the number of
accidents and fatalities that occur the laws and regulations given need to be adhered to.
To ensure these regulations and laws are being adhered to the HSE carry out inspections;
these inspections are carried out by a warranted inspector. The warranted inspectors then
review the relevant documents of the duty holder, interview individuals and observe the
site conditions and how work activities etc. are carried out.
The effectiveness of these inspections can be considered vital to reducing the number of
fatalities and injuries which occur in the construction industry. The reasons such inspections
are vital, is that without inspections this would allow standards to slip. The inspections
ensure that the laws and regulations set are being adhered and followed to the correct
standard. Where deficiencies are found the warranted inspectors would give additional
advice on how the duty holder could quickly and adequately assert such deficiencies to
ensure the health and safety of all individuals. Construction work standards would decline
without inspections, as with inspections include the risk of prosecution of misconduct.
Prosecution which will result in fines, a financial deduction no individual wants when
conducting works. Of course financial prosecution is not the main reason duty holders
abide to the laws and regulations; the improvement of health and safety creates a good safe
working environment along with a good reputation.
The regulation the HSE carries out has undoubtedly had a significant contribution to the
reduction of fatalities and injuries in the construction industry. Referring to figure one as
shown below, we can see that the fatality rates have gradually been reducing over the
decades. This has been achieved through the regulation of legislation such as the HSWA of
1974, in figure one it can also be seen a reduction in 2007 which would indicate with the
Figure 1(HSE,2012)
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introduction of the revised CDM regulations 2007 it has proved to be effective as the rate of
fatal injury per 100,000 drops to 2. Such revision of regulations often happen, the HSE
continually research and investigate the best modes of practice to undertake where it
comes to carrying out works. The continuing research of the HSE is beneficial to health and
safety as it develops better and safer methods of working to be applied throughout the
industry.
Enforcement
The HSEs purpose in enforcement is to ensure that any serious risks that are found through
inspection or are reported are dealt with quickly and adequately by dutyholders.
Enforcement is also used to ensure compliance with the law along with holding the
dutyholders who breach health and safety sanctions accountable, which may include
bringing alleged offenders before the courts (HSE, 2009).
Whenever an incident occurs, the HSE then carry out an investigation. The purpose to this
investigation is to gather and establish facts, specify the causes of the incident and
determine if there has been any evident breach of legislation. Once the previously stated
criterion is met then the appropriate action can be taken.
The HSE can issue improvement notices as a tool to ensure compliance with health and
safety standards, inspections also work to the same effect as mentioned earlier in the
document. For more serious breaches of health and safety which include death as a breach
of legislation or complete disregard of health and safety can result in prosecution. In terms
of effectiveness of reducing fatality and injury rates within the industry, enforcement can be
considered very effective.
A tool the HSE have at their disposal is the issuing of notices; these notices can be issued in
two types. The first is that of an improvement notice, where the dutyholder has an assigned
date where remedial action must be completed by. The second type of notice is prohibition
notice where the dutyholder is instructed to stop work immediately. Such tools greatly
contribute effectively to reducing the fatalities and injuries that occur within the
construction industry. These measures are effective as if the dutyholder does not adhere to
such notices, said dutyholder can be subject to prosecution henceforth the majorities
comply with the issue notices to ensure the laws and regulations are being abided. In figure
2 a steady decline in major injuries occurred within the construction industry can be seen, a
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clear indication that the methods used by
the HSE are effective. Enforcement
directly links this decline in major injuries
to prosecution; figure 3 shows a
fluctuation in the years 11/12 where
there is an increase in cases and offences
prosecuted. This increase shows that the
HSE has identified the potential risks of
these incidents and acted accordingly
which reflects on figure 2. However
these methods are of course only
effective to an extent, in practice
there should be no injuries or
fatalities but other influencing
factors have an effect on these
statistics. Unforeseen circumstances
of course are a vital part of how
incidents occur along with simple human error and moments of misjudgment; very specific
incidents are not preventable. Such instances should be considered when evaluating the
methods applied to improving health and safety and reducing the number of injuries and
fatalities within the construction industry.
Conclusion
In conclusion the two methods of application and enforcement by the HSE prove to be
effective to an extent. The effectiveness of application by the HSE has proved to
considerably effective through the use of inspections, as mentioned these inspections help
identify any potential risks present from which the warranted inspectors can act
accordingly. The revision of regulations and laws also heavily contribute to the reduction of
injuries and fatalities experienced within the construction industry; as mentioned after the
revision of CDM regulations in 2007 a noticeable decrease could be seen. As the HSE
continue to research into the best practices of carrying out works, the statistics will
Figure 2(HSE,2013)
Figure 3(HSE,2013)
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fluctuate due to many other factors however should still improve in the future which of
course is the aim of the HSE.
The method of enforcement has worked effectively alongside application, through the use
of such tools as notices, the evidence provided shows clearly a correlation between the rise
in prosecution offences and cases to the reduction of major injuries within the construction
industry. This is a clear indication that the methods used by the HSE are effective, however
of course injuries and fatalities still occur resulting in the methods being effective only to
this extent. It should be noted that in some specific scenarios these incident s are
unavoidable, simple human error also plays a huge part in these statistics.


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> [2
December 2013]


Health and Safety Executive,2012. Construction Industry Statistics.[online] Available at
<http://www.hse.gov.uk/STATISTICS/industry/construction/index.htm>[Accessed 19
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 19 December 2013]

Health and Safety Executive, 2009.Enforcement Policy Statement.[online] Available
at:<http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hse41.pdf>[Accessed 19 December 2013]