Editorial
Safety in Building and Construction Industries
June 2004
Sheila Pantry OBE
The Nordic Network for Occupational Safety Research held a seminar in
Copenhagen on October 9, 2003, with a focus on safety research in the
Nordic building and construction industries. The goals of the seminar were:
- to identify relevant accident factors that can be modified through intervention,
- to give an insight into the contemporary occupational safety
research in the Nordic building and construction industries, and
- to stimulate and strengthen Nordic research cooperation.
It is appropriate that during this European Year of 'Building in
Safety' that this newly published report provides conclusions of
roundtable discussions from four plenary sessions regarding construction
safety, including accident investigation and prevention, the meaning and
significance of safety culture and safety climate, the influence of firm
size on occupational safety and, finally, good practices for safety
management. In addition to this, the report contains abstracts of over 75
ongoing or recently completed safety research projects in the Nordic
building and construction industries, as well as injury and employment
statistics for the period 1992-2001.
Summary of plenary presentations and roundtable discussions includes:
- Injury and employment statistics for the Nordic construction
industries for the period 1992-2001 show there are significant
increasing injury trends in Iceland, Norway and Finland whereas there
is a significant decreasing trend in Sweden and no significant changes in Denmark
The Nordic Occupational Research Seminar provided the opportunity for
collecting and exchanging information regarding contemporary occupational
safety research in the Nordic construction industries. The format of the
seminar worked well in allowing for dialogue between researchers and
practitioners, and provided the opportunity for stimulating and
strengthening Nordic research cooperation, as reflected in the project
regarding the development of a Nordic Occupational Safety Climate
Questionnaire.
The construction industries in each of the five Nordic countries are
very similar, and an individual Nordic country's safety research results
are in many ways general to the other Nordic countries. In addition to
this, large multinational construction companies now operate in all five
of the Nordic countries. The seminar showed that there is a great need for
continued opportunities for exchanging safety research results, and for
close dialogue and cooperation between researchers and practitioners.
There is a particular need for looking into aspects that are relevant for
small or medium sized construction companies, as well as safety management
and safety climate aspects in large companies.
- The plenary presentations and discussions stressed the need for
Proactive planning, risk assessment and allocation of resources for
accident investigation
- Making Safety culture and climate more understandable
- Use of existing contacts and networks to reach small and
medium-sized companies
- Adoption of 'zero accident' philosophy
- Developing and adopting good practices for worker and client
involvement and commitment to safety
- More Positive on-the-job feedback and in taking pride in safety and
health, and
- Comparative studies between the different Nordic countries in order
to better understand differences in accident incidence and safety climate
These issues are only to a certain extent covered by current Nordic
research activities. Future research in the construction sector should
also focus on Nordic cooperative studies in the fields of:
- National and cross-national comparative studies at workplace level
concerning safety culture/climate and performance shaping features
- Research focused on small or medium enterprises and ways to
approach them concerning improved safety performance
For further details see:
Safety in Building and Construction Industries: State of the art and
perspectives on prevention.
Report from a Nordic occupational safety. TemaNord 2004:520
© Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen 2004 ISBN
92-893-1006-5 ISSN 0908-6692
Print: Ekspressen Tryk & Kopicenter
www.norden.org/pub/velfaerd/arbetsmiljo/sk/TN2004520.pdf
The 'Building in Safety' campaign will culminate in the annual European
Week for Safety and Health at Work during 18-22 October 2004, will
highlight the health and safety risks in Europe's construction industry,
as well as the solutions.
Details of the European Week can be found at the European Agency for
Safety and Health at Work special European week 2004 website (http://ew2004.osha.europa.eu).
Click onto the Diary
of Events and you will see plans have been made already worldwide up
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Don't forget that on 10 and 11 November 2004 there will be a major
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2004 held in London. Already bookings have been made. So do not wait
until it is too late to get into this important event. The 2003 conference
was deemed to be a great success by those attending. On 9 November 2004
the Food Safety in
Europe 2004 conference will be held.
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And for those working in the Construction Industry Sector we hope
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European 2004 Year of Construction Safety.
Have a zero accident and incident-free year in 2004 in your workplace!
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