ABSTRACT
Ethically health and safety means the reduction of harmful accidents or dangerous incidents which will cause immediate or future health problems. Conventionally this can be done by ensuring compliance with regulations, significant induction and follow-up training of staff and workers in safe working procedures, risk assessment and management, and methods of working, investigating accidents or near misses and using statistical data to know where to prioritise preventive action. This can apply during building or facility use, during construction and during maintenance procedures. This chapter makes a case for health and safety, indicating a wider duty of care that is about trust, reliability and effective long-term relationships. When integrated with a total quality management approach (TQM), it is tied up with the achievement of a focused objective working together to achieve a positive win-win outcome. It is, however, not only focused within the objectives and time frame of a project although there is a need to develop an appropriate collaborative culture for each project. It starts more in the development of longer-term supply chain habits, based on multiple organisational commitments to health, safety and zero defects.
