There are some industries in which health and safety training is seen as a nice thing to do but isn’t exactly rated as being of vital importance by the people working in it. The construction trade is not one of these industries. It should go without saying that everyone needs to get trained on health and safety issues regardless of where they work or what they do.
However, it is easy to see why someone who sits in an office all day or who works in a supermarket might not see this as being hugely relevant to them. In the case of construction workers there are some very powerful reasons for ensuring that everyone working on a building site attends the appropriate construction health and safety training.
The Injuries or Deaths
It isn’t pleasant to think of the consequences of a construction site injury. If we take into account the fact that these jobs often involve heavy machinery and great heights the capacity for a tragic accident is there for us to all too clearly see.
Quite apart from anything else which we will go on to consider, no one who is in charge of a construction job will want to feel even partly responsible for someone on their team suffering a serious injury or death at work. This might sounds overly dramatic to some people but the UK construction industry consistently produces more accidents and fatalities than any other industry.
While only 1 in 20 UK workers is in the construction business it accounts for more than 1 in 5 of the country’s fatal work accidents and 1 in 10 of the serious injuries which are reported in the country each year.
The Financial Effect
Of course, it would be foolish to start a big building job without having adequate insurance cover arranged first of all. However, this isn’t always enough to avoid the damaging financial effect of a serious accident or incident on a building site. If it can be proven that negligence played a big part in the incident then there could be a harsh financial penalty for the bosses to pay.
This is another very good reason to send employees on the right construction health and safety courses at the right time. Anyone who has ever had to deal with the aftermath of a serious incident such as this will also know that it can affect the reputation of the building firm involved and make it more difficult for them to get new contracts in the future.
As we can see, it is becoming clear that the relatively small cost and effort involved in arranging health and safety courses for construction workers could turn out to be a very worthwhile investment.
Legal Issues
One of the last things any business owner wants to be caught up in are legal issues. When it comes to the building trade, the tough regulations which are now in place mean that any negligence on part of the people running the work can end up in a long and expensive court case.
This is one of the worst things which can happen to any building company, as the uncertainty surrounding a long, drawn out legal battle can make it extremely difficult to plan for the future with any degree of clarity. The best solution to avoid this happening is, of course, to make sure that the workers get the training they need on construction health and safety courses.
By doing this the person in charge will feel comfortable that they are doing all they can to get the work done safely and without unnecessary risks. The huge risks involved in not arranging construction safety courses are simply too big and too many to put this issue off for long.