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Building and construction sites by nature can be very dangerous places, with building sites remaining one of the most high risk areas for injuries and fatalities in the workplace. According to HSE, building sites account for 22% of all fatalities within the work place, with construction being the biggest sector for fatalities and major injuries at work.

Common Causes of accidents on building sites:

• Struck by falling tools or materials
• Falls from heights such as scaffolding or ladders
• Ladder accidents
• Slip, Trips and Falls
• Crushing injuries caused by machinery
• Injuries sustained through lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
• Employees not being properly trained on how to use equipment, or properly trained in the correct procedure for work on a building site

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Overreaching can cause tension and stress to the muscles in your back which is often agonising. The Working at Height Regulations provides standards for employers and employees to meet to ensure that they don’t overreach and cause an injury.

Where overreaching occurs

Overreaching is common when working on ladders as you can reach for something too far away. This causes stress and tension to the back muscles which can cause lasting damage. It can also occur on scaffolding or other moving platforms. If a user overreaches, he or she can fall and subsequently sustain more injuries than was necessary.
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Back strains are common where heavy lifting is part of your job. It is important that you take care of your back but equally important that you employer takes necessary steps too.

Common problems

It is not only what is carried which can cause injuries but the way in which something is carried. Twisting and bending to pick up or poor posture when carrying objects can strain your back and damage muscles or plates.

Duties of Employers

Where it is reasonably practicable, employers should avoid the need for their employees to undertake manual handling where it can cause them injury. Where it is not reasonably practicable, they must make a suitable and adequate assessment of all of the manual handling operations, take steps to reduce the risk of injury to the lowest level possible and take steps to provide information to employees of the precise weight and the heaviest side of any load where the centre of gravity is not in the middle.
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Building sites can be dangerous if basic health and safety rules are not adhered to. The Health and Safety Executive government website provides a vast array of information containing basic rules and regulations. It is said that site organisation and management is of paramount importance. This does make sense as on building sites you can have individual workers, teams of workers and vehicles such as dump trucks. Traffic management is essential to ensure that individuals are safe when vehicles are moving and transporting materials close by on site.
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Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is there to help to protect against health and safety hazards in the workplace. Under the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992, PPE is to be defined as all equipment in which is “intended to be worn or held by a person at work and which protects him against one or more risks to his health and safety“.

Safety and work boots are therefore seen as protective work equipment, and therefore must be worn in the work place where necessary. Such Protective work equipment should only be provided with a cost to the employer and an employee is not expected to provide their own equipment.

Both employers and employees have a duty with regards to safety shoes. Under the 1992 regulations, it states that it is an employer’s duty to ensure that all PPE provided is kept “maintained in an efficient state” and is in “good repair“. Safety shoes must be chosen sensibly be the employer so that they are suitable for the job in hand. Employees have a duty to wear the appropriate safety shoes if they are provided.
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Working at height can be dangerous so you it is important to know about your rights and responsibilities.

What do Employers need to do?

It is up to employers to ensure that work at height is properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out safely. This means that the planning, organisation and supervision also needs to be carried out by competent people.

How employers should avoid risks
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We deal with all types of work accidents, including accidents due to machinery such as a cherry picker. A cherry picker is an elevated work platform. It is also often referred to as a boom lift, man lift or basket crane. To put it simply it is a vehicle with a rising platform, to allow work from height.  A small or mini cherry picker may be used in a warehouse, for example to get to stock from a top shelf. A larger cherry picker could be the type we see on the road (a truck like vehicle with a rising platform like a crane). The larger cherry pickers could be used to get on top of buildings for example.

It is said that cherry pickers were originally designed for use in orchards such as to assist in picking cherries or other fruits from trees. This is where the name “cherry picker” comes from. Nowadays a form of cherry picker is used to help engineers service telephone lines; you also often see them on fire engines. Other workers such as window cleaners often use a cherry picker when cleaning windows on a large multi-storey building.
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Employers are responsible for their employee’s health and safety whist in the work place. Employer’s liability insurance is therefore required by most employers, so that they can insure against liability for injury and disease which has been caused in the work place.

Employer’s liability insurance is a legal requirement, under the Employer’s Liability (compulsory Insurance) Act, and is a compulsory requirement in the UK.

Employer’s liability Insurance allows employers to be able to meet the cost of employees claiming compensation for an injury sustained at work. Bodily injuries or property damage can be covered by Employers Liability Insurance, as long as this has been directly or indirectly affected by the actions of the employer.  Most large companies insure employees for between 5 – 10 million pounds, and employers must make sure they are insured with a suitable provider.
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Slips and trips at work, especially in storerooms, are fairly common. A lot of places lack the procedures that ensure tidiness in the workplace to ensure that clutter does not end up causing a slipping or tripping hazard to any employees.

The duty to ensure that the workplace is free from such hazards is your employers. If they fail to have good systems in place for keeping the storerooms tidy, or fail to enforce such a policy, you may be able to make a claim for personal injury compensation from your employers insurance.

Common examples of these kinds of claims that can be successful:
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When the government introduces regulations they can appear to be excessive in scope or “over the top“. However, they provide a minimum standard of health and safety which both you and your employer should follow.

What should your employer do?

Every employer should ensure that working at height is:

• Properly planned (including for emergencies and rescue)
• Appropriately supervised
• Carried out safely where reasonably practicable

When working at height your employer needs to make sure that the weather is suitable for you. Unless you work for the police, fire, ambulance or another emergency service.
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