June 2018

Buckle up!

23 May 2018, Industry Updates

WorkSafe New Zealand is preparing to tackle the construction industry’s biggest killer: vehicles

Vehicles operating on construction sites – including concrete trucks, diggers, excavators and cranes – will be a major focus for WorkSafe in the coming months.

“Accidents and incidents that occur involving vehicles on construction sites are the biggest cause of fatalities in construction,” said Craig Sengelow, WorkSafe New Zealand’s Construction Engagement Lead.

“The problem with vehicles and plant is that you’re talking about big things, so incidents involving them tend to be quite serious. When you look at ‘one week away from work’ harm incidents, vehicles don’t really show up because the consequences tend to be worse.

“That’s obviously a concern for us and we’re currently in the early stages of drawing up an approach to reduce those instances, which we’ll be looking to work with the industry on.”

In 2016, the most common cause of vehicle construction deaths was operators being thrown from a vehicle or crushed by it as a result of rolling on steep terrain.

Another alarming statistic is that the failure to wear a seat belt was considered a significant contributing factor in eight out of ten of vehicle fatalities, where drivers lost control of a vehicle.

Simple solutions

“It’s really sad, because you’d think we’d be all over that now. When things don’t go right, seat belts make sure you’re in the right place; whereas if you’re not wearing one, you can end up in the wrong place,” said Sengelow.

“People need to understand the conditions and the vehicle to be competent for that sort of work. If someone’s not competent, then they shouldn’t be doing the work. Training and qualifications are a key part of that, as is having a good onsite supervisor who can assess their competency.”

Aside from buckling up and improving worker competency, another area the industry can improve on is planning the movement of vehicles throughout a site said Sengelow.

New regulations due in 2019

Another focus for WorkSafe is the development of phase two of regulations in the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

“When the Act came out, the first lot of regulations covered things such as HAZMAT and general workplace safety. This second lot is mostly focused on scaffolding, and mobile plant and vehicles. There are some other areas, but those two are the big focuses for the construction industry.”

He said that the development is being led by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and expects industry consultation will begin later this year, with the regulations potentially in place by 2019.

By the numbers

WorkSafe’s report, Towards 2020: progress towards the 2020 work-related injury reduction target, showed that New Zealand is on track to achieve its target of a 25% reduction in the number of work-related fatal and serious injuries by 2020.

In 2016, there were 2.1 fatalities per 100,000 full-time employees (FTEs) – below the 2020 target of 2.5. Serious non-fatal injuries were also below the 2020 target.

Within the construction industry, the rate of fatalities per 100,000 FTEs fell from 6.7 in 2011 to 1.9 in 2016. During the same period, the rate of serious non-fatal injuries fell from 24.6 to 21.2 (the period also included a peak of 40.2 in 2013).


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