Safety, Building Site Hazards and Our Shared Report Card.

Last month, as I drove one of my boys to sports, I spotted someone driving with their hazard lights flashing. "Fair enough," I humoured myself. At least he's honest." I'm into honesty, so this month, let's take our usual honesty deeper as we look at safety and building site hazards. Let's see how we are doing and where we might lift our game.

We'll use the lens of the recently released "Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2024" or what I call our "Annual Safety Stat’s Post-Mortem". As usual, it makes for sobering reading. We'll also touch on October's Safety Month theme, and we'll empower you to do something new and effective with your team.

These days, my boys are too old to chime from the back seat, "Are we there yet?" Nevertheless, it's a good question for us to consider. Are we, in construction and associated industries, doing safety well enough?

To do this, we'll look at:

• The October SAFE-Tea month.
• Looking through the lens of the report card.
• A Sobering Reflection.
• When building site hazards have feet.
• The DIY approach.
• Being me.

October is SAFE-Tea Month

As you probably know, October is our annual safety-themed month, and Safe Work Australia encourages us to get our teams together and actively encourage safety-related conversation.

They encourage a round of tea. If you want to have a tea bag or instant cuppa together, go for it. As a safe-tea guy, and it is my special-tea, I'm all into empowering those critical conversations. Even a casual effort might clear up some uncertain-teas, it'll be a quali-tea investment, and you'll awaken your team to some tough reali-teas. But that approach isn't my cup of tea. (And from here on, I promise no more tea puns)

If you're going to do it, I'd encourage you to go the extra mile:

• Get the mobile coffee guy in and roast the real beans for your crew.
• Bring in some quality lunch (maybe Subway platters or rolls from a place your team loves).

Whatever you do, make a statement, make it memorable, and make it an event that powerfully communicates that safety matters! As we've already made clear, and as annoying as that voice from the car's back seat is, we have to answer, "No, we aren't there yet!"

Building Site Hazards Through the Lens of the Report Card

Building site hazards are still not managed as well as we ought, and the policies, procedures and controls we put in place are still not being consistently followed. The risks are real, and the hazards are still tragically troublesome and frequently fatal.

On the upside, however:

• The rate of traumatic injury fatalities has now decreased by 19% since 2013.
• As a nation, our work-related injury rate of 3.5% is one-third of the global rate (12.1%).
• We aren't the most fatal industry (agriculture, forestry and fishing took the 'gold' this year), but we're still among the worst.

On the downside:

• During the previous 10 years, there have been more than 1,800 traumatic workplace fatalities, and more than 1.1 million workers lodged a serious workers' compensation claim.
• Construction is one of the top 6 industry injury areas.
• Vehicle incidents account for 42% of worker fatalities (84 fatalities).
• Falls from a height account for 15% (with 29 fatalities).
• A staggering 80% of serious claims involve body stressing, falls, slips and trips, being hit by moving objects, or mental stress.
• Claims for mental health conditions continue to increase, now accounting for 11% of all serious claims. What's more, the median time lost from work in these cases is more than 5 times that recorded across other injuries or diseases.
• Ill and injured workers are taking longer to return (stretching out to 13 weeks or more).

Overall, it could be and should be a better picture.

The last item mentioned, being a longer average return to work, could indicate that accidents are getting worse in severity and consequence, or it could be a reflection on the rehabilitation industry, or it could be something else. But that's how these things go. There are always 'or' options, and when we lack data points, we should be careful about where we attribute blame. But that said, we can confidently say that:

• WHS and injury-related costs are still higher than they should be,
• More workers are being killed, injured or getting sick than is acceptable, and
• Injury-influenced productivity is a problem.

Bottom line: we still have work to do!

A Sobering Reflection

We do well to remember that here, in Australia, in one year, 200 people died at work. Died! That's a life lost every 43 hours - or more than every second day.

Looking deeper, and not surprisingly, 95% of those fatalities were male. These were men who did, or may have in the future, lead and protected families, loved, served, protected, trained and nurtured the future. The price is huge.

I'm not lecturing. I'm just passionate and professional. This stuff matters!

My hope is that you can communicate that to your people, and I'm trying to help you do that. If you want some discussion starter resources and ideas, you can also check out Safe Work Australia's offerings.

When Building Site Hazards Have Feet

One message we need to communicate is that the most significant building site hazards are often people — the people who work on-site, as well as the people who lead, manage, and administrate. That means us!

People can be far more dangerous than any vehicle, slip hazard, chemical or other hazard. Laziness, casual attitudes and ineffective resources are often behind every accident and incident. The fact that you're reading this means you're unlikely to be one of those people, but we need to be honest about the challenge.

People are safety's greatest asset and its greatest liability. The resources those people use come a close second.

To reduce workplace deaths, injuries, and illnesses, we need to manage and eliminate building site hazards while improving overall safety. To do this, adopt a comprehensive, not piecemeal approach. Using a complete OH&S Management System or WHS Management System is best. If not, the use of appropriate Safe Work Methods Statements (SWMS) is a minimum expectation. Note also that discounted trade-specific SWMS Industry Packs are available.

A variety of resources is better than nothing. Ultimately, it's all about empowering your people to be their best.

What About the DIY Approach?

If you choose the DIY approach, purchasing individual resources and 'tiling together' a solution can work. You might be surprised to read that, but it's the truth. If you know your way around the WHS regulations, if you're a small operator, and you've got really good workers, it is possible. But very few people fit that description.

For most people, the DIY approach has problems:

• The process is disjointed, is inefficient and clunky.
• You could buy bits and pieces galore and still end up with a dangerously inadequate solution.
• You could spend the same amount but end up with 60% (or less) of what a full system delivers.

Systems, plans, and packages are heavily discounted to reflect and encourage investment. The DIY approach robs you of this benefit.

As always, if you need clarification, call 1800 304 336. We'll help you identify the best resources and quote the items. If it's a sizable purchase, we'll negotiate a good discount.

Safety, Building Site Hazards and Being Me

A couple of years back, I wrote about one of my formative moments as a WHS professional. It was October 15, 2003, the day of 16-year-old Joel Exner's death. I was working in the design team for the Westlink M7 at the old Australia's Wonderland car park, and was literally 300m away when I first heard the news. Later, when I heard the details, I moved from sadness to anger. The needless and reckless death of that young man changed me - well, actually, he was just a boy. I was already a safety nerd, but something in me elevated as a result of young Joel's death, and it never settled again.

In that 2022 article, I let a little of my heart be seen because I believe passion and devotion matter. Today, I live with the hope that my focus and attention to detail impact others. I want to ignite awareness and empower diligence. Ultimately, I hope our resources and systems save lives, perhaps saving a young lad like Joel, or a 37-year-old like the man Joel would have been today. That's part of my personal mission.

Similarly, your workers can be infected by your passion and sincerity. You can pave the way!

Stuff like this still angers me, but I channel it into my work. I know what I do matters — and what you do also matters!

If you have ANY question that will keep your workers safe, please ask! This is what we do. We've got an epic base of professional experience and expertise, plus thousands of happy customers to affirm the quality we bring. Call 1800 304 336 or email. Together, we'll keep your workers safe and your business in the black.