Construction Accidents in the UK: Challenges and Solutions

1           Results and Data Analysis

1.1         Introduction

This chapter presents an in depth analysis of the results from the study of construction accidents in the United Kingdom (UK) based on secondary data. Accidents in construction projects in the United Kingdom remain high, according to the statistics indicated in the reviewed secondary sources. These statistics pose a significant challenge to the well-being of construction workers considering that construction accidents cause considerable damage to the health of the victims, including fatalities. Despite the numerous regulations and safety guidelines provided by the various governmental and non-governmental organizations responsible for safety in the construction industry, deaths still occur in construction projects in the UK. Researchers noted that safety and health in the construction industry had been a critical challenge to the improvement of construction quality for a long time globally (Lee, Shariatfar, Rashidi, & Lee, 2020). With the UK having one of the best construction industries, accidents caused by the flagrant disregard for safety precautions and negligence create cause for concern for most experts in the industry. This chapter presents the findings from the study of various secondary sources on the challenges to safety in construction sites across the UK. It also discusses some solutions recommended in these secondary sources while analyzing the effectiveness of these solutions to determine their efficacy in real-life scenarios.

1.2         Data collection

The data collection for this project consists of secondary data for the research of the study. Data collection was carried out through the study of academic and official government articles (from the HSE website) to determine the quantitative statistics regarding different types of accidents in construction projects across the UK. Some of the academic materials used to provide theoretical backgrounds to some of the challenges came from the ‘Z-Library’ database. The key term used to find articles in this database was “Construction Accidents” and “UK Construction Accidents”. A combination of these search terms yielded academic articles that provided background information on the leading causes of construction accidents and the challenges facing the mitigation of these accidents. Some of the journal articles propose some solutions used in other countries that can be applied in the UK to help reduce the number of accidents in the construction industry.

1.3         Analysis

This section presents an in-depth analysis of the findings on the nature of construction accidents in the UK. The challenges facing the mitigation of this prevalent problem are also discussed and analyzed by the researchers. The analysis begins by examining the fatalities in the UK construction industry, based on statistics presented in various official sources and academic journals. The number of fatal injuries occurring in construction projects averages about 40 in the United Kingdom annually, representing an unacceptable number in the modern world (Woolley, Goode, Read, & Salmon, 2018). This figure represents roughly one-third of all workplace fatalities reported in the UK. When fatal injuries in the UK are ranked based on industries, construction and agriculture account for the highest number of workplace fatalities (House and Safety Executive (a), 2019). The chart below shows the number of fatal injuries in the workplace categorized by industry in the 2018/2019 financial year. It shows that construction had the highest number of fatalities than any other sector in the UK.

The House and Safety Executive (HSE) (2019) noted that three-quarters of the workplace fatalities in the UK construction industry could be accounted for by five different accident types. These accidents included falls from heights, accidents by moving vehicles and being struck by flying objects. These three types of accidents accounted for over half of the total number of fatal injuries recorded in the UK construction sites (House and Safety Executive (a), 2019). The other types of accidents responsible for fatal injuries included being trapped under overturned or collapsed objects and contact with moving machinery. The clarity provided by the analysis conducted by the HSE should have given construction firms and stakeholders a clear idea of how to reduce these accidents and protect their employees. However, as HSE notes, the number of accidents has remained consistent over the past few years. This consistency is indicative of the challenges in the industry and the lack of proper mitigation strategies despite having well-defined problems to tackle. The chart below shows the comparison of fatality numbers between the different types of accidents in the 2018/19p and 2014/15p as conducted by HSE.

Safety of the employees in the construction industry also extends to the general health, and the research indicated that, in 2019, there were roughly 79,000 work-related cases of ill-health associated with the construction industry (House and Safety Executive (b), 2019). Over half of these illnesses were musculoskeletal disorders. This number represented about 3.4% of the total number of workers in the construction industry that year, which was not significantly different than the average in other sectors (3.2%) (House and Safety Executive (b), 2019). The main concern, however, was that the statistics indicated a similar plateauing of these numbers, reflecting a lack of improvement over the last few years. This stagnation is evident despite the identification of the common causes for the work-related illnesses and numerous policies implemented by the government and other stakeholders to mitigate these issues. There must exist a gap between the identification of challenges and the implementation of the solutions suggested. It implies a divide between the efforts to identify the problems and the willingness or efforts to improve the working conditions of construction workers. The graph below shows the trends in self-reported illnesses reported by workers in the construction industry in the UK over the past few years. The steadiness of the curve is worthy of note as it shows the stagnation in the number of self-reported cases.

The enforcement of the solutions and policies aimed at mitigating workplace injuries and illnesses falls to the HSE. Statistics from the agency indicated that it issued 2,926 notices of enforcement during the 2018/19p (House and Safety Executive (b), 2019). Over half of these notices were improvement notices, while the rest were prohibition notices. The agency is also responsible for the prosecution of offenders who allegedly break these policies and cause harm to their employees, either willingly or through sheer negligence. In the 2018/19p, HSE led 158 such prosecutions, leading to 152 (92%) prosecutions and 15.7 million pounds in fines (House and Safety Executive (b), 2019). Despite these figures, it was surprising to note that the number of workplace injuries remained the same as in the previous years. This observation made it clear that further research into the divide between the government policies on workplace safety and their implementation in the construction industry in the UK was necessary.

1.4         Discussion

This section provides a review of the observations and analysis of figures above. This discussion represents the researcher’s point of view supported by the secondary sources. Research indicates that construction accidents never occur without warning (Jin, Wang, & Liu, 2020), and most accidents occur due to human errors or negligence by employees. The UK government, through its various agencies, outlines numerous policies aimed at eliminating workplace accidents, especially in the construction industry. These policies govern the safety measures required from the design and modelling phase of the construction to the proper techniques to carry out construction projects to eliminate common causes of workplace injuries. Despite all these efforts, researchers note that fatalities and other workplace injuries have plateaued (Woolley, Goode, Read, & Salmon, 2018). This steady-state is indicative of the challenges facing engineers and architects in the complex system of construction during the production stage.

Various academic sources also indicated that the construction industry has one of the most hazardous working environments in most countries. The high-risk nature of the construction industry can be explained through the complexity of the workplace, where multiple stakeholders have to co-ordinate each activity perfectly to avoid accidents and to keep the workers out of danger (Ayhan & Tokdemir, 2020). The steady number of workplace injuries associated with the UK construction industry is indicative of the complexity involved in this environment. The statistics may indicate the inevitability of workplace mishaps, in that, despite all concerted efforts to keep the workplace safe, accidents still occur at a consistent rate. This observation, however, undermines the view that advancements in technology and the numerous safety policies should be sufficient in mitigating issues arising from this complexity.

As noted above, the measure put in place by the various stakeholders has failed to produce any remarkable improvement as solutions to workplace injuries and fatalities. An in-depth review of the factors that keep these statistics constant despite the innovations and safety policies implemented each year is beyond the scope of this study. However, the challenges to the workplace safety are clear-cut, and some of the solutions provided have should some promise, even though it is to a small extent. The study conducted was aimed at providing a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the workplace accidents in the construction industry in the UK. Most of the secondary sources showed that this industry has the highest number of workplace accidents. After the in-depth analysis of the statistics, the researchers noted that the consistency in workplace accidents raised concerns over the effectiveness of the current measures aimed at reducing these numbers.

References