A Trade Unions Congress (TUC) survey carried out on union reps regarding site safety, has worryingly unearthed that more than half of the UK’s workplaces have never faced a safety inspection.
Construction safety woes
Further to these findings, the survey discovered that 80% of construction firms surveyed, had also never faced a safety inspection, despite its reputation for being one of the most high risk industries.
Building and construction sites are often seen in lists of the UK’s most dangerous workplaces, thanks largely to the use of hazardous materials, heavy vehicles and dangerous tools. While the environmental risks are extremely high in construction, there are usually safeguards in place. These include anything from personal protective equipment (PPE) to bright coloured markings on machines, designed to warn of their presence. There are also strict working procedures put in place to keep all workers free from harm.
However, according to the research many of these companies are still not being inspected to ensure that these safety requirements are being enforced. Health inspectors excel at noticing hazards from an outside perspective, that may otherwise go unnoticed, hence why these inspections are so important.
“Deeply worrying”
TUC General Secretary Frances O’ Grady spoke of her concerns over the findings, saying “I am appalled that 80% of reps in construction say their workplaces haven’t been inspected. Construction workplaces can be some of the most dangerous places to work.”
“Huge cuts to the HSE and to local authorities continue to undermine vital safety protections at work. That means more workers at risk of accidents in unsafe workplaces every day. It’s time to fund the HSE properly and make sure bosses know that they can’t get away with chancing workers’ lives in dangerous workplaces.”
Workplace injuries can pose a significant threat to the lives and limbs of employees. As personal injury solicitors, we regularly take on cases where serious injuries have occurred due to the negligence of employers in the workplace. Plenty of the injuries suffered in these cases are caused by everyday accidents, such as slips, trips and falls but there are also those caused by poor training or failure in providing the correct PPE, and it is these types of accidents that can lead to lost limbs, broken bones and in the very worst case scenario, fatalities.
Injured in the workplace? Get help
If you or a family member has suffered injury at work due to the negligence of your employers or a colleague, then we could help you. We have a team of specialist workplace injury solicitors with years of experience who can help you with any injury suffered in any workplace.
Injuries we deal with include:
If you would like information on what we can do to help you with your workplace injury claim, then you can get in touch by calling us on 01695 722 222 (lines are open weekdays 9am to 7pm) or you can begin a claim by visiting our claim page here to get started straight away.