by Jamie Griffiths

There are 11.2 million people working in the construction industry across the United States and, according to the Workplace Injury Statistics report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 195,000 workplace injuries reported in 2019.

But the implications of those shocking statistics are not just limited to the US—it’s estimated that more than 2 million people—or 7% of the workforce—work in the construction industry across the UK, yet it remains one of the most dangerous professions.

According to the UK’s HSE, 81,000 workers suffered from work-related ill-health across Britain in 2019/20. The leading causes of fatal injuries were:

  • Falls from height (47%)
  • Trapped by something collapsing/overturning (16%)
  • Struck by moving, including flying/falling, object (12%)
  • Struck by moving vehicle (10%)
  • Contact with electricity or electrical discharge (4%)

In addition to this, the risk of slips, trips and falls on the same level in construction is 4% higher than for other industries, and construction workers are 11% more likely to sustain injuries related to falling from height.

It’s often taken as a foregone conclusion that those working in construction and related industries are at risk from a much higher rate of accidents, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be this way. Health and safety solutions have evolved significantly over the last decade, but adoption of these new technologies have not been so swift.

Technology has the potential to improve injury rates or at least help improve the response to workplace accidents, making construction jobs and those with similar risks attached much safer, more modernised, and able to shift and change with the times.

Health and safety designed for the future

The slow and steady adoption of new digital technology in the health and safety space has allowed industries across the board to take a more hands-on approach with the wellbeing of their workers without losing valuable time and resources.

But there are still too many relying on analogue solutions that are inefficient, impractical and hard to turn into actionable safety solutions. In other words, while they may help health and safety leaders to cover the basics, non-digital policies, risk assessments, and reports make it much harder to effectively learn from mistakes and improve things along the way.

This is largely caused by the difficulty of creating detailed reports from traditional spreadsheets and paper records. Yet with data automatically collected from workers who are on the ground through personal safety devices, apps or other software, bosses can be certain that all the information is accurate, up-to-date, and in-depth enough to be used for reporting later.

These reports can then be used to review risk assessments based on data, rather than relying on the presumed dangers of a particular job. This, in turn, helps to predict what could happen in the future, and how to insure against it.

It’s also true that one of the largest barriers to adoption outside of its initial cost could be a general lack of trust in technology and automation, which has become synonymous with a loss of jobs and a fundamental shift in how the industry works.

The truth is that digital transformation is coming no matter what we do, and the COVID-19 crisis has only accelerated this process due to increased regulations (e.g., social distancing, increased hygiene standards) that need to be adhered to.

Rather than looking at technology as an enemy to be fought against, organizations should embrace what certain systems can do for the employees they have now.

How tech can transform health and safety

The challenges of 2020 have demonstrated how important having agile, future-proof health and safety solutions can be to providing continued protection for employees even through the toughest of situations.

Lone worker alarms, for example, can be given to employees who may spend all or part of their working day away from colleagues and supervisors—something much more common now that workers are forced to work while socially distanced or with a skeleton team.

These devices allow the user to call for help if an incident occurs, connecting them with an operator or chosen contact who can escalate the situation to emergency responders if necessary. Other solutions might also allow them to log things like near-misses or newly-discovered hazards.

But this is just scratching the surface, with many of these devices also sporting additional features like Man Down sensors—which can detect when a worker has fallen and may not be able to physically raise the alert—and real-time location data.

There’s also the organizational side of things, which can interact with health and safety efforts in a number of key ways.

Mobile workforce management software, when used to its full potential, allows managers to see where their workers are and what jobs they are assigned to at all times. This means, that should something happen, help can be directed to the right person as quickly as possible.

The reality facing companies across the globe following 2020’s upheaval will look quite different from what we’re used to and, while it’s not yet clear exactly how the changes will manifest, one thing is obvious.

Closing Thought

If the groundwork for this is not done now, then the industry will risk falling behind as cost-cutting and efficiency become even more of a priority than they already are. In order to continue keeping employees safe at work, leaders must begin to embrace the technology that can make the process easier and more effective.

about the author

Jamie Griffiths is an expert in health and safety and works with companies across the globe to improve their lone worker safety solutions. As the business development manager at Vatix, he regularly consults with other professionals in the industry about the latest trends and developments in the space.