H&S Training In Construction Industry # I

Introduction

On Saturday the 1st of February 2020 a local newspaper in the Kingdom published an official announcement taken from the BOSH annual statistics for the previous year - 2019 - listing 270 worksite accidents as being registered, 15 of these were fatality cases with a further 90 registered accidents resulting in major injuries being sustained. Seven of the fatalities happened within construction sites.

A total of 255 labour accidents were reported with 99 cases being listed in the field of construction and 69 being attributed to the manufacturing industry. A large number of the accidents were due to the failure of employers to provide adequate health and safety (H&S) requirements in compliance with regulation (Local Newspaper, 2020). According to a number of H&S professionals, many of these cases were preventable and they occurred due to a number of reasons but mainly from the lack of an effective and concise H&S training program. The impact of these accidents always causes a major commercial loss as well as human loss which cannot be included in a financial model. It should be noted that a poor H&S record can be considered as a significant drain on the construction industry whilst the business disruptions will result in a loss of work productivity as well as a lowering of confidence in the local construction business market and it will be detrimental to global investors.

H&S Law Development Stages

There is a noticeable improvement in the reduction of the number of death cases compared to previous years however the fact that people are still losing their lives in the construction industry serves as a reminder that construction is classified as a high-risk industry for a global workforce. The traditional benchmark for measuring the H&S performance is to reduce the number of accidents such as personal injuries, property damage, and death like what has been achieved during 2019, but the modern benchmark aim within global firms is to completely prevent them from even occurring. The current improvement is considered as a result of different reasons such as the major developments which were made in H&S legislation in the last three decades of the twentieth century. For example, In UK, the HSWA1974, the introduction, and conversion of proactive instead of reactive strategies as a result of European directives were introduced. The MHSWR 1992, supported by an ACOP issued by the HSC has used “shall” instead of `so far as is reasonably practicable, “process” instead of “outcomes” of H&S management and concentrates on proactive activities i.e. conducting a risk assessment, providing and delivering H&S training in advance so that the next steps i.e. plan, organize, implement, control, monitor and review their preventative and protective measures must then be taken. Later, in the first decade of the 21st century, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (CMCHA) came into force within the UK on 6 April 2008. The new offense is known as corporate manslaughter except in Scotland it is known as a corporate homicide.

Just before 6 April 2008, it had been so possible for a corporate entity, i.e. an organization, to become prosecuted with regard to a wide range of criminal offenses, as well as the common law offense involving overall negligence manslaughter. Alternatively, to ensure that the organization becomes guilty of the offense, it had been also essential for a senior individual who might be said to embody the organization to be guilty of the offense. This had been known as the identification principle. The offense had been established to produce methods associated with accountability with regard to very significant management failings throughout the organization and maintain a free incident workplace. Extensive H&S laws which in turn include evidence from research and investigation primarily based on rigorous, adequate, and continual legal enforcement including fines as well as reliable precautions/mitigations have been confirmed and demonstrated to minimize only the incidents rate not completely prevent workplace injuries and fatalities cases from even occurring. Such laws and mitigations are not enough as they require many other important elements mainly effective H&S training in order to build workforces with strong Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes, and Abilities (KSAA). Once a firm has such four elements in place then it would be able to drive a strong and integrated accident prevention program within worksites.

Failures & Negative Impacts

H&S training is an extremely important element within the successful business in the construction industry since it can normally play a crucial role in whatever a construction firm will be able to tender to get and ways in which tend to be awarded. Therefore, an effective H&S training program and reliable records/documents of H&S excellence will assist the construction firms to make full legal compliance, significant recognition/reputation as well as excellent standing within such vital industry. However, failure to do so can lead to major issues/impacts such as criticism as a result of accidents, work stoppage, productivity interruption, loss of business opportunities, enforcement notices, fines, and prosecution.

Criticism Due to Accidents

The construction industry is the target of constant criticism of a number of local and international organizations interested in the H&S. A number of global social activists criticize this industry for recruiting unskilled workforces and does not offer adequate H&S training while performing their works as this industry concentrate on productivity rather than H&S. For example, they always warn that the outcomes of such recruitment strategy are serious negative consequences such as work-related incidents, which are usually hidden and inconsiderable by some employers and officials who should not give us the cold shoulder. There is an increase in the number of disabled people, widows, and orphans. Such increment is getting unbearable and leads to an exacerbation of social and financial concerns and an increase in the burden on social organizations, especially in developing or low and middle-income countries where compensation is not remunerative and matching the living costs that have typically quite high today. In addition to the children of the deceased at work, they are more likely to be significantly affected in terms of their current and future success, personal development, and their own version of happiness. The traditional phenomenon such as predestination does not work anymore today as it cannot be accepted as a justification for not providing effective H&S training programs. They added that it is all about a full commitment and compliance to H&S requirements through a strong proactive strategy continually managed by an initiative team. For example, the USA Office of Inspector General (OIG) has recently released an H&S statement criticizing OSHA because of not developing best-suited measures and strongly recommended developing the current H&S training especially in the construction industry ( Tressi & Cordaro,2018).

Alternative Punishment Procedure

Many countries around the world have introduced a new framework for enforcing the Alternative Punishment Procedure as a result of a minor non-compliance such as failure to offer effective H&S training which is not found as the main cause of an accident. A mandatory H&S training or conference sponsorship may sometimes replace financial penalties against construction firms in case of minor unsafe acts and conditions or even minor safety contraventions which include contraventions that have a direct link to workplace safety where exposure is not prone to result in fatal, major physical harm, or major equipment deterioration. In case of moderate contraventions which include repetitive minor physical hurt, equipment deterioration, or work stoppage might result and request instant action such as major financial penalties, raising and circulating the names of non-compliant firms on a blacklist, stopping the financial aid, support, and incentives provided by the local authorities such as the ministry of labour.

Recommendation

The construction firms with a reactive H&S strategy may receive a recommendation from the client about providing and developing H&S training during the pre-qualification stage or on regular review of contractors' H&S training prior to doing business within construction projects. A number of local construction firms have lost their business opportunities within the Middle East Oil &Gas industry due to non-compliance with H&S training. The provision and development of H&S training were strongly recommended by IChemE to the Qatar construction industry where a high number of relatively poorly trained expatriates are employed and have poor performance. On the contrary, a high number of extremely proficiently trained expatriates are also employed by Qatar Oil & Gas industry where high H&S standards i.e. HSE& OSHA are perfectly applied to result to have an outstanding performance (IChemE, 2019). In terms of legal, an absence of required safeguard such as adequately competent workforces could possibly make a case for a judgment at the worksite where a threat of considerable personal hurt is recognized and other accident prevention elements that commonly have minimized the degree of the threat are likewise missing. A confined space activity within a construction project was completely stopped and a prohibition notice was issued under sections 22&23 of HAWA1974 once an HS inspector of the local authority found that the confined space team did not have a valid training certificate. The same inspector issued an improvement notice about an inadequate maintenance system of confined space equipment. The enforcement notices can be considered as a key element under H&S law.

Fines

According to the fines law supporter that fines can drop breaches about the key laws & regulations which they impose, which in turn lead to a reliable risk-free, and even more productive work environments as well as an increasing degree playing field with regard to accounting firm management members who must stay competitive along with the minority who always strive to cut cost and save money through shirking the law and regulations such as procrastination or lack of motivation to provide effective H&S training programs due to cost, time, etc. Therefore, this particular law and regulations were introduced, implemented, and regularly reviewed in terms of different fines which sometimes have extended the misplaced ground to aid the concern about inflation which is, without doubt, considered as a critical issue.  On the other hand, opponents of this law argue that general H&S performance has not changed much as a result of such laws. Even, there is certainly a prevalent want to have firms with full H&S legal compliance; however, the rigorous fines system is seen as oppressive, burdensome, and a hurdle to construction industry business growth. It appears to be a depletion of firms' financial resources and calming public opinion.   According to (Ellis Whittam, 2020) that fines for violating H&S law have raised 381% since stronger sentencing rules had been released utilizing now an average charge or fine standing on 27.000 for each conviction.  Bearing this in mind, it pays to get the best-suited help and support. Recently, fines related to H&S contraventions within the European country have considerably increased, though 2019 remaining no exception. The reality, the 10 H&S top finest in 2019 was in excess of 1 million. The total amount is over 10 million that is the capital for establishing five ready-mix plants or six precast plants within the gulf. For example, two firms responsible for the elevator’s maintenance and repairs were fined around 1.5 million on some H&S contraventions including failing on the provision of H&S training and information to the elevator users. H&S regulators of the state of Michigan fined a firm $2,500 as 18 workforces did not receive the required H&S training about hazardous energy sources (ISHN, 2019). OSHA has recently issued a high number of fines ($1.6 million) to 112 firms an average fine of $14,317 per firm for Coronavirus-related violations such as failure to provide proper H&S training on the correct use of respirators, and PPE (VelocityEHS).

Prosecution

According to (R.sanderson, 2016) that the number of firm managers who have been prosecuted with regard to H&S breaches by the H&S agency seems to have trebled within a year due to many reasons such as failure to provide H&S training. Clyde & Co’s study demonstrates that the number of firm managers prosecuted in 2016 was 46 when compared with 15 in the previous year. The purpose is to make managers more responsible about H&S within their firms and successfully encourage them to make developments to drop or at least lower work-related. The regulations, standards, and ACoP have a specific legal status. Should you be prosecuted with regard to breaking the law of H&S which is in fact, it is demonstrated that you failed to comply with the related provisions of the rules, regulations, and code, then you must demonstrate that you have complied with the law in certain different methods so that the judge will relent and then you will feel relieved otherwise, the judge will quickly realize that you are at fault or negligent. In this stage, do not jump to conclusions, you cannot say let bygones be bygones or it is an act of God, it is clearly your negligence and fault. Do not say that your conscience pricks you, the time is over. In this stage, you have to brace and defend yourself by saying well or be still. The judge will read the final decision and put you straight by saying that the accident could have been averted if Mr. ???  had correctly discharged his duties by providing effective H&S training to his team so that they could perform their work safely and identifying the list of violated H&S regulations. Do not say this is slander when the decision is against your will, the final decision will be fair, square, and run out, whether you are satisfied or not or by hook or by crook.