CONSTRUCTION HEALTH AND SAFETY ON THE EUROPEAN AGENDA…

In November 2004 ECCE Secretary General Diana Maxwell and I.E.I. delegate Murt Coleman participated in the largest Occupational Safety and Health event of its kind to take place in Europe.  The European Construction Safety Summit was the culmination of a campaign which was launched in Dublin in April 2004 during the Irish EU Presidency, by the Bilbao-based European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.

Sadly, construction accident statistics uphold the image of an industry that is still considered dangerous, despite improvements in recent years.  The European Agency cites the relative incidence of non-fatal accidents as being 141, compared to an EU industry average of 100.  According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical unit, around 1,300 workers are killed each year.  This amounts to 13 employers out of every 100,000: more than twice the average of other sectors.  Figures from the International Labour Organisation for the 10 countries which joined the EU in 2004, estimate that construction there accounted for 20% of all work related accidents.

The EU construction industry is estimated to be worth Euro 902 billion a year.   Basing its estimate on ‘scaling up’ an EU study which estimated overall accident and ill-health costs in the sector as 8.5% of project costs, the European Agency for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) states that poor OSH standards in construction could cost the EU and its tax payers over Euro 75 billion each year – this is nearly Euro 200 for each member of the population.  Accurate figures are hard to gauge in light of potentially significant unregistered employees – and unregistered accidents.

ECCE was one of a number of construction bodies which were called upon to seek to encourage improvements.  The Bilbao Declaration is in fact a call for action touching a number of areas.  One is procurement.  An emphasis on quality – well-planned, well-designed projects that are carried out by competent, qualified professionals – is considered to offer the client the dual benefits of a good return on investment and a reduction in accident rates.

Improved compliance is another target.  The declaration called on Member States to ensure effective enforcement.  A European Construction Inspection Campaign carried out by the Senior Labour Inspectors’ Committee (SLIC) in 2003 indicated a high level of non-compliance in projects inspected – and differences in enforcement of legislation between Member States. 

Member States were called upon in the Declaration to co-operate with the social partner organisations to develop specific guidelines that would ensure effective implementation of the legislation, describe good practice during the project preparation stage to ensure that, in particular, the clients, designers, contractors, sub-contractors and co-ordinators are aware of their obligations.  Guidance and information should be targeted to the sector and  specific to its needs.

ACE (the European Council of Architects), ECCE and EFCA (the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations were called upon to build on existing work in the area of construction design to maximise health and safety aspects of design – to design out risk wherever possible.

The actions of the social dialogue partners, the European Construction Industry Federation and the European Federation of Building and Wood Workers were welcomed and supported in the Declaration, as were those of the European Builders’ Confederation Charter.

Improvements lie in the hands of the Member States, the industry bodies and companies represented at the event.  Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, Head of the European Agency stressed that there is both a human and a financial cost to the heavy toll of construction accidents.  Despite considerable improvements there is still a lot of work to do, in particular regarding small and medium enterprises which comprise a large proportion of sector activity.   The term ‘holistic approach’ has become over-used, yet he felt it the most apt to convey the need for improvement at both design and construction phases.

Views on the importance of regulation differ.  By November 2004 the EU Presidency baton had been handed to the Netherlands, who were represented in Bilbao by Henk van Hoof, the Secretary of State for Employment and Social Affairs.   The Netherlands favoured deregulatory measures.  The Dutch Administration estimates that administering health and safety regulations costs them Euro 1,150 million a year.  They believe that strongest improvements can come through daily practice.  They provided interesting and arresting examples of awareness campaigns in the Netherlands, where it has been estimated that building workers have a 1 in 6 chance of having a serious fall in their working life.

Many interesting case studies were presented during the day.   One nugget of information lay in the contrasting accident rates on the Øresond Link project between Denmark and Sweden.  At one end construction workers were given long-term contracts and the promise of future work, at the other contracts were short-term and workers had no security of employment.  Needless to say, accident rates were higher among the latter group.

At the close of the day’s activities, representatives of the major construction associations in Europe signed the ‘Bilbao Declaration’.  Those who put their name to the document were Ulrich Paetzold of the Ulrich Paetzold, Secretary General of the European Construction Industry Federation, Harrie Bijen, Secretary General of the  European Federation of Building and Wood Workers , J. Antonio Calvo Delgado - European Builders’ Confederation, Pablo Bueno Tomás of the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations, John Graby - Architects’ Council of Europe, Diana Maxwell, Secretary General of the European Council of Civil Engineers and Henk Schrama - Ministry for Social Affairs and Employment, Dutch Presidency of the European Union.

A follow-up Construction Safety Summit will be organised by the Agency in June 2006.  This will involve all key stake-holders who have subscribed to the Declaration.

For further information: http://osha.eu.int/ew2004/

The Bilbao Declaration “Building in Safety” may be viewed on: http://agency.osha.eu.int/publications/other/20041122/en/index_1.htm    

A web-cast of the European Construction Safety Summit may be viewed by accessing: http://osha.eu.int/ew2004/closingevent/broadcast/index_en.htm