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TAKING A LEAD ON HEAD INJURIES NEARLY 200 CONSTRUCTION WORKERS A YEAR SUFFER HEAD INJURIES IN GREAT BRITAIN. CM, WITH MIPS, WHICH FOCUSES ON REDUCING THE RISK OF HEAD INJURIES, ASKED A PANEL OF HEALTH AND SAFETY EXPERTS HOW THE INDUSTRY COULD ADDRESS THE ISSUE, AND WHETHER NEW HELMET TECHNOLOGY COULD HELP
Will Mann: Health & Safety Executive statistics from 2016/17 to 2018/19 show that 595 construction workers suffered head injuries. Of these, 186 resulted in loss of consciousness and 79 caused concussion. What are the panel’s views on how head injuries in construction could be prevented?
John Dunne: A head injury is among the worst-case scenarios on site, but thankfully I can’t recall the last serious head injury that occurred on a Wates site. That doesn’t mean that one couldn’t happen though. Our focus is around prevention of the fall in the first place and the prevention of materials or equipment falling.
Inside the MIPS testing facility
Saying that, there is always the possibility that something will fall, so the right selection of head protection is a really important subject. In general, we use JSP EVOLite head protection as our standard employee issue, tested to EN 397. Wates has a national agreement in place with Arco, who have plenty of options for personal protective equipment (PPE), and we choose what we feel is the right choice for us. Many larger organisations within our supply chain are well informed and provide a good standard of PPE to their employees. However, for smaller contractors who may not have access to up-to-date information or cutting-edge technologies, there could be a concern. Therefore, it is up to all main contractors to ensure we pass on any new information that comes to light that may make our sites safer. At present, we don’t insist on the type of head protection that the supply chain use, provided it conforms to current safety standards. We could insist that anyone working on our sites use a certain type of helmet, but this could have implications in terms of cost and availability. Andrew Hughes: At ISG, we have a helmet that has a chin strap which is different to others, and we insist on that throughout the supply chain. It was difficult at first to get people to buy into that process but
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