Business Times
(Sunday, 21 April 2013 of the
Sunday Times
)
writes that construction deaths have surpassed deaths
in SA’s much-scrutinisedmines, according to industry
calculations. Statistics from the Federated Employer's
Mutual Assurance Company show construction-
related fatalities total about 150 a year and the industry
suffers about 400 accidents a year.
health & safety
THESE STATISTICS DO
not include motor vehicle-related accidents expe-
rienced by the construction industry as a whole, so a further 150 fatalities
couldbe added to the above-mentioned average. On average these statistics
push annual construction-related fatalities to 300 in an industry that employs
429 000 people. This is higher than the average annual 123 deaths (as at
2011) that occur in SA mines, which employ 519 000 people. Currently, the
labour department spends about R2,5-billion a year on health and safety
compensation claims in the construction sector.
The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) is very con-
cerned about this grave matter. The civil engineering and construction
fraternity involved in projects need to take cognisance of this distressing
accusation.To further emphasise the urgency of thismatter, it is noteworthy
that the current Health and Safety Act will hold company directors liable for
fatal accidents as a result of employee negligence. Are companies factoring
this risk into their budgets? According to the
Business Times
the greatest risk
will be for the account of the primary contractors, the /big five’, i.e. Murray
& Roberts, Group Five, WBHO, Aveng and Steffanuti Stocks.
The industry is accused of being behind their counterparts in developed
countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States of America by a
good 10 to 15 years. If we are executing the excellent projects we all know
about, how is it that we are non-compliant in the important health and safety
issues? It does not make sense to build infrastructure to better people’s lives,
but to jeopardise the lives of others while constructing it.
Remember the blitz inspection by the Department of Labour in 2007,
when 1 415 sites were visited and 1 388 of these were non-compliant with
the Health and Safety Act? Onewould think this would have been awake-up
call? Statistics unfortunately show the contrary.
Anton Krause, chairman of the Association of Construction Health and
Safety Management stated that “the South African construction industry
had not improvedmuch, if at all, in reducing the high level of fatal accidents
and non-fatal accidents over the past 10 years”.
This is a serious blemish on the reputation of our country’s excellent
corps of engineers and construction practitioners, and SAICE will include
this as a topic for in-depth discussion during the Civilution Congress to be
held from6 to 8 April 2014 at Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, if not sooner.
Addressing any initiative to reduce construction related fatalities fits well
within the Civilution goal of “what engineers should do differently going
forward”. SAICEwants this upcoming congress to be the advocate of change.
With government expected to conclude the collusion charges against
some of ourmajor construction companies soon, howcan the industry afford
not to address health and safety issues with their integrity already at stake?
People’s lives are in jeopardy. How can anyone calculate theworth/value
of a life or the monetary/pain implications of an injury? No money can pay
for such eventualities. The civil engineering and construction practitioners
should now prove that they are indeed the solution-finders to challenges
and at the same time save lives and prevent injury – it should be easier than
designing a complex structure.
●
“Death and injury
stalk construction
sites” – SAICE
August 2013
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
57
