HSE publishes research on small construction firms
Recently published HSE commissioned research has shown that many small construction firms do not believe that they need to improve their health and safety.
Over recent years HSE has concentrated on larger construction companies resulting in a dramatic downturn in workplace fatalities. HSE’s Small Sites Project was established to target smaller businesses to drill down good practice and sensible risk management strategies to achieve the same results.
One of the positive findings of the report is that all respondents believed that construction sites had become safer. However, many thought that no further work needed to be done as small firms generally believed that things were safe enough and construction sites would never be risk free. Further, they believed that large and small firms could not be lumped together and treated the same as they operate differently when obtaining work, managing relationships on site and managing their workers’ health and safety.
Interestingly, the report concluded that small firms are less effectively targeted by messages from HSE who they perceived as being unrealistic and inflexible. They said that they were most likely to listen and learn from their peers.
To view the full report please click http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr719.pdf |
