ABSTRACT

It is estimated that some 2.2 million people work in the UK construction industry, making it both the country’s biggest and most dangerous industry. Over the last 150 years, the construction industry has had an unenviable safety record. The Victorians instituted a massive programme of building and civil engineering with little thought for the safety of the huge workforce – as a result thousands were killed. We live now in more enlightened times, where the taking of risks at work and the exposure of non-employees to risk are seen as less acceptable than before. The European Union construction sector employs about 7 per cent of the total workforce, yet accounts for 15 per cent of all occupational accidents and 30 per cent of all fatalities in the industrial sector. Significant organisational changes in the industry itself have had consequences for accident prevention, the effects of which have probably balanced out improved attitudes.