HSE released its annual workplace fatality figures for 2021/2021 in July this year. They made for sobering reading. In all, a total of 142 workers died as a result of accidents at work in Great Britain, during the year. These statistics were especially disturbing. They represented a significant percentage increase in fatalities on the previous year’s total of 113.
More construction workers died in accidents at work than in any other sector, with 39 deaths.
We all know construction is an inherently dangerous industry. Falls from height are consistently the main cause of building site fatalities.
However, other factors are now at play with an ever increasing demand for more houses. At the same time, shortages in manpower as a result of the UK leaving the EU have seen a reduction in the numbers of available skilled workers.
Some tabloid newspapers have even suggested construction companies should trial four days weeks to lessen the pressure on construction workers who are being asked to work longer hours to deal with the dual effects of high demand and fewer work colleagues.
Tiredness is a factor in many types of workplace accident. So too is the temptation for some employers to avoid best working practices, when cutting corners will save precious time. There is a natural temptation for companies to extract every last man-hour out of the workforce, when the pressure to get jobs finished is so high.
Something has to give. In fact, something has already ‘given’ as the recent HSE fatal accident figures show.
If ever there was a time for ensuring health and safety legislation is upheld to the maximum level, it is now, with protection of the construction industry’s workforce a more important priority than it has ever been.
As well as altruistic reasons of genuine concern for the welfare of workers, there is a practical reason for keeping people safe at work. An injured worker is an absent worker.
The omens, though, are not good. The last few years have seen ever increasing cuts in the number of HSE inspectors and the amount of inspections carried out, stemming from a year on year fall in the amount of funding the Health and Safety Executive has received since 2009/2010.
Although it may seem to be a left of field argument to say this, one of the best forms of checks and balances in the battle to maintain employee safety in the face of a challenging marketplace, often comes from an unlikely source: specialist accident at work claims solicitors like Mooneerams.
Whether it be a building site accident claim or another type, a successful employer’s liability claim is only won because a court has found the employer has breached their duty of care to keep the injured worker safe whilst at work.
Alternatively, the employer’s insurer settles the claim before it arrives at court, on the basis they are persuaded the worker who has been injured, would win their case if it went to a hearing. ‘Fraudulent claim’ is not a phrase often bandied about in relation to worker’s accident claims. Accident at work lawsuits are won on merit.
Whilst some employers found to be negligent in relation to an accident claim filed by one of their employees may feel somewhat resentful, the construction industry as a whole might want to look at the bigger picture.
Instead of seeing accident claims brought against one of their number as being something to be reviled, perhaps instead they should consider looking at these types of claim victories in a different light – as a force for good.
Accident at work claims hold careless employers to account. Sure, they will also (one hopes) take note of an HSE prosecution too, but not every successful accident at work claim will necessarily involve an HSE conviction as well.
Being found to have been responsible for an employee suffering often a serious injury or worse in the case of building site accidents, should leave a mark on all but the most irresponsible of employers. Workplace accident claims help put right, wrongs.
Injured employees should be compensated where their injuries were caused by employer negligence.
What’s more at a time when more than ever, construction companies need to keep their workers fit and on site, the knowledge that their own carelessness could see them lose a valuable member of their workforce should never be far from the management’s thoughts.