The results of the 2009/10 accident survey carried out by the National Specialist Contractors’ Council (NSCC) highlight the commitment of its members to health and safety in the workplace after NSCC recorded lower fatal and major injury rates than the industry as a whole.

In the biggest NSCC Accident Survey yet covering over 157,000 operatives, the NSCC fatal injury rate was 0.6 per 100,000 workers compared with the industry rate reported by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) of 2.2 per 100,000 workers. The NSCC major injury rate was 163.5 per 100,000 workers, which is significantly lower than the rate of 230.0 per 100,000 workers recorded by the industry.

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All NSCC injury rates have fallen to their lowest levels since NSCC started collecting accident information in 2003/04 in spite of a continued increase in the reporting of incidents. The NSCC major injury rate was down 47% compared with last year and the over 3-day rate fell 30% to 524.9 per 100,000 workers. Over half of all accidents occurring to Specialist Contractors resulted from either handling, lifting and carrying or slip and trips which is consistent with all industries in the UK and the construction sector as a whole.

For the fourth consecutive year, all NSCC member organisations provided information as part of the survey, with a record ten obtaining a 100% response from their members.

NSCC Chief Executive Suzannah Nichol MBE commented on the results of the survey:

“NSCC is committed to reducing accidents within the construction industry and these results from almost 3,000 Specialist Contractors demonstrate the attention paid to managing health and safety and protecting the workforce. The collation of accident information is a requirement of NSCC membership and we will continue to work with all of our member organisations in 2010/11 to improve on the success of this year’s survey and show that NSCC Specialist Contractors have a better safety record than non-members.”

(GK)