The Jury Inn Hotel Construction Site Scaffolding Collapse - Essay Example

According to Moore (2009), the most extensive high-risk industry in the UK from a health and safety viewpoint is the construction industry. The construction industry has one of the highest rates of fatal accidents of all industries in the UK and this is similar in other parts of the world (HSE, n.d.). Construction accounts for 5% of employees in Britain and 6% of all reported injuries to employees. Construction accounted for 247 cases or 26% of all reported injuries to employees relating to high falls, 32 cases or 29% of collapses, 3 cases or 25% of drowning/asphyxiation, 7 cases or 16% involving electricity, and 10 cases or 16% explosions (HSE, 2011).
The UK shares some similarities with the United States as Weil (2001) indicates that the construction site has been and continues to be one of the most dangerous workplaces in the United States. In 1999 the number of fatalities was 1190 and the number of injuries that involved absence from work was 193,765. Though the rate of injury is much lower than the preceding ten years it remains above that for the private sector as a whole and large variations within the industry are masked by industry averages. The third-highest number of fatalities of any occupational group is that for construction workers. It is therefore not a surprise that the industry has been the focus of OSHA policy for several years.
Lingard et al (2010a, p. 813) indicate that the construction industry in Australia has a similar profile in terms of occupational health and safety as with other developed countries including the USA and the UK. The construction industry is one of the highest-risk industries in Australia. In 2002-2003 construction workers in Australia were more than two times more likely to be killed when compared to workers in other industries. Statistics for Australia for 2006 indicate that construction has consistently been the third most dangerous industry which has been surpassed only by transport and storage and agriculture for the past three years with a rise of 9% in the number of fatalities recorded in 2006-2007.