Construction industry seeks ways to reverse worsening accident rate

(Helsinki 13.09.2002 - Juhani Artto) Alarm bells are ringing in the construction industry, where the safety record has been deteriorating annually since 1996. The risk of accident in construction is now three times higher than in other industries. Indeed these other industries are characterised by a general downward trend in the accident rate.

One important factor behind the gloomy figures for construction is the new way in which work is organised. "Projects nowadays are divided into small subprojects, with an increasing number of small enterprises exacerbating management problems on construction sites," says Sakari Seppänen, a safety expert at the Federation of Accident Insurance Institutions. "The traditional approaches to accident prevention no longer suffice," he stresses.

Seppänen says that occupational safety must be managed in the same way as other aspects of construction. No sustainable improvement is otherwise achievable.

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