The Civil Engineer has a vital role in promoting health, safety and welfare in construction projects, and educates and mentors (including supervising civil engineers) have a role to play in professional development.
Accordingly, as design professionals (and key Duty Holders under the Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations) our approach should reflect that we value workers and accept that protecting all construction personnel and those who use and maintain our creations in the right reason for safety, health and welfare. Ultimately, we must be assured that what we design can be built, used, maintained and eventually demolished safely. Our increasing involvement as CDM Coordinators and Principle Contractors should also amplify these values.
Through a robust construction design and management planning process, professional engineers need to demonstrate commitment to examining the mean to design out as many of the hazards that cannot be removed at the design stage. This involves considering;
- the buildability of your projects
- the time and the resources needed to achieve success
- how contractors will safely realise your designs
- the needs of maintenance workers, and
- the needs of end users
In 2008/09 180 workers were killed at work, a rate of 0.6 per 100,000 workers.*
In 2008/09 1.2 million people who worked during the last year were suffering from an illness (long-standing as well as new cases) they believed was caused or made worse by their current or past work. Of these, 551,000 were new cases.*
Health and Safety at Work legislation was set up to reduce the number of injuries and accidents occurring in the workplace. ICE works closely with the Enforcing Agencies and other bodies to establish the highest possible standards of Health and safety for the industry. The Health and Safety Expert Panel lead this work.
The themes that the panel are currently undertaking include:
- Education - working with course providers to assist in the integration of health and safety risk management into undergraduate courses.
- Regulations - consultation with the wider membership on the revision of regulations.
- Designer guidance - providing advice and guidance to identify how risks can be designed out of a project.
- Register - to support and enhance the ICE Construction Health and Safety Register of construction profession
*Figures taken from the Health and Safety Executive - Health and Safety Statistics 2008/09