The Importance of Safety Equipment November 28, 2017 – Posted in: News

The health and safety of everyone on a construction site is the priority of every working day. With construction sites and areas of work posing a number of risks to workers in any field, safety equipment and personal protective equipment has come under the spotlight for employers and site managers to ensure their workforce are correctly kitted out while at work. In their latest blog, Altis Industries study the importance of safety equipment and see if personal protective equipment makes any difference to the safety of a worker.

As previously mentioned, construction sites are places which pose many risks to workers and builders. In the year of 2016, over 621,000 workers sustained non-fatal injuries while at work, and sadly, 144 workers were killed while on site. When studying the breakdown of these injuries, it is clear to see that certain pieces of safety equipment can be used to prevent future incidents. With 10 percent of workplace injuries coming as a result of a worker being struck by a moving object or vehicle, the importance of hi-vis jackets cannot be understated, and with almost a fifth (19 percent) of workplace injuries coming as a result of slipping or tripping, it is clear to see that appropriate footwear is a priority.

Although the severity of each injury cannot be transcribed from this data, the findings (provided by The Health and Safety Executive) do state that these workplace injuries accounted for 4.5 million working days being lost and 125,000 of the 621,000 injuries recorded led to over 7 days off work. To avoid injury and to avoid being off work for any period of time,make sure you are wearing the specific pieces of safety equipment required by your industry and your work.

Despite the statistics seemingly speaking for themselves, the question as to whether safety equipment is really making a difference to the safety of workers still needs to be asked. What can be seen from these statistics is a steady decline in work related injuries since the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations were introduced in 2002. These results suggest that since employers were made to enforce their workers to wear the correct and appropriate attire at work, there has been a consistent drop in the number of work-related injuries, both fatal and non-fatal.

The evidence which suggests that safety equipment has a positive effect on the health and wellbeing of a worker on a construction site is overwhelming, demonstrating that the correct gear should always be worn when working.

If you need to invest in some new materials or new pieces of safety equipment, contact Altis Industries Ltd today on 01420 472692 to find out more about all of our products and services.