Accidents can happen at any work place, but working on a construction site poses heightened risks, which employees and site managers must acknowledge to ensure safety for all who move around the site.
There are number of different factors that can cause or contribute to a nasty incident at a designated area of construction, and with several thousands of injuries each year, effort is still needed to provide as safe an environment as possible for all concerned.
Contractors and others in control of construction sites must first ensure as much as possible has been done to minimise the chance of slipping or tripping in the work place.
Factors including uneven surfaces, dangerous obstacles, trailing cables, wet or slippery surfaces and changes in level have all been known to cause serious injuries, many of which have resulted in an accident claim payout.
Working in construction often means having to operate at great heights, meaning the risk of serious injury is heightened too.
One way to prevent such incidents occurring on platforms such as a scaffold, for example, is by introducing a tower structure.
Tower scaffolds must be erected by trained and competent people, but should never be used in strong winds, as a support for ladders, trestle or other access equipment, assembled with broken or missing parts or with incompatible components.
Incidents that occur on tower scaffolds are mainly caused by dangerous methods of erection or dismantling where a safe system is not being followed, defects in the erected scaffold or misuse of the scaffold, which can include a person falling from the tower whilst it is being moved.
Another very important aspect of ensuring maximum safety on construction sites is traffic management.
On average, each year, approximately 7 workers die as a result of accidents involving vehicles or mobile plant, with a further 93 seriously injured.
Tragic incidents can be avoided by effective management of transport operations throughout the construction process, whilst workers are also expected to be as alert as possible throughout their employment.
Key issues that need addressing include keeping vehicles and pedestrians apart, minimising as realistically as possible the movement of transport, poor visibility and a wealth of signs and instructions.
These are just some of the topics construction managers and employees need to address whilst working on site.
Massive payouts can be made to compensate those injured in incidents - with the sum often varying depending on the severity of the case - but often it is no consolation to those injured in a life-altering accident.