The Civil Engineering Contractors Association Accident Statistics Report for 2009, published recently, reveals a 66 per cent reduction in fatal injuries in the year 08/09. Fatal injuries fell from 4.4 per 100,000 workers in 2008 to 1.7 per 100,000 workers in 2009. Major injuries fell by 15 per cent from 220 per 100,000 workers to 188 per 100,000 workers over the same time period and the rate of 'over 3-day injuries' fell by 3 per cent.
Civil engineering is of course but one sector within the overall construction industry. Generally our clients buy their EL across the entire business so a reduction in one sector may well be countered by other activities in the business, which may, for example, include Facility Management which has of course its own EL challenges. Further, it is not unusual to have a particularly large claim which can easily skew an experience over and above a slight reduction in reported accidents.
Considering fatalities in particular, according to Health and Safety Executive statistics, there were 41 fatal injuries over the whole UK construction industry in 2009/10 (2 per 100,000). This represents a reduction of 37% when compared against the average 3.2 per 100,000 for the previous five years. Clearly the industry is making good headway in improving the historically poor construction related statistics using more and more initiatives to keep up the momentum.
Although a reducing accident rate is good for the overall experience the actual cost of claims is increasing. Increasing claims costs can in some cases counteract the effect of any reduction in the accident rate leaving base EL rates generally stable. Full and proper information gathering at the time of an accident can mitigate claims costs substantially. Main Contractors should also use best efforts to ensure their subcontractors, as well as having robust Health and Safety systems, are suitably insured to minimise the potential of the Main Contractor collecting claims under their own Public Liability (PL) policies.
