Improving health and safety in the construction industry

Howard Fidderman looks at a new leadership and worker engagement tool for the construction sector.

Of the 250,000 organisations working in the construction sector, 99% are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The sector has one of the worst injury rates in the economy - albeit one that has improved of late - and also some of the most innovative approaches to improving health and safety. Although many principal contractors have, in recent years, started to embrace leadership and worker involvement (LWI) as central to the improvement of site health and safety standards, this is not generally true of SMEs. With this in mind, 10 principal contractors and clients, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) set out in 2007 to produce an LWI toolkit: four years later, the HSE has unveiled the result (external website).

Gordon Crick, from the HSE's construction division, emphasises that the toolkit is based on sound psychological theory and the experiences of the "best" in the sector. "To some extent," says Crick, who was instrumental in the delivery of the toolkit, "this is health and safety management reframed with a people-first approach." The development of the toolkit involved a mapping of HSG65 ("Successful health and safety management"). "We covered the same ground," said Crick, "but brought the principles of leadership and worker involvement into the foreground." A few years ago, he adds: "Good worker involvement was always 'led'. Where you get the magic, however, is where top-down and bottom-up meet."

By "leader", the toolkit means the person responsible for health and safety, whether a dutyholder or manager. Such "leaders", adds the HSE, "play a key role in creating an atmosphere (or culture) where health and safety is taken seriously on-site and everyone looks out for each other. Workers play an important part in making improvements to 'the way we do things around here', whether this be simple modifications to the work environment and/or equipment or coming up with a new (and potentially more efficient) way of working. Talking to workers about the way they carry out tasks, especially when they are seen to behave in an unsafe or unhealthy way, prompts useful discussions about changes that are needed."

Leadership and worker involvement toolkit

An HSE-commissioned report (PDF format, 1.07MB) (external website) from the HSL on the development of the toolkit emphasises that the principal contractors, consultants and SMEs themselves have guided the work through all three phases of its genesis. The process has variously included a literature review, comparisons of common and best practices, and interviews with SME leaders and principal contractors (mostly health and safety managers). It involved developing and trialling a paper-based toolkit and, finally, its conversion into a web-based product.

The toolkit comprises:

• an introduction explaining why SMEs should go the LWI route (see box 1);
• the "seven steps" of LWI, which is the core of the toolkit;
• the key principles of LWI (reproduced in box 2);
• separate advice for workers on how to "Do your bit", which we look at later in the feature;
• information on how the tool was developed, which continually reinforces the "by industry, for industry" message; and
• an A-Z of all the guidance and tools that are available on the toolkit website, which allows the website to be searched without going through each of the seven steps.

The seven steps

Aside from the first of the seven steps, each of the remaining six is broken down into four web pages comprising:

• an introduction, which sets out what the step involves and why it is important;
• one key tool, which helps the SME leader embark on the process quickly (and is also the tool that the HSE most wants SMEs to use);
• further tools; and
• a summary of the messages in the kit for leaders and what they need to do as a minimum.

The HSE does not expect employers to work their way through the toolkit in one sitting; they should instead treat it as part of their everyday health and safety management. Employers can pick the strategies that are most appropriate to them, and apply them to their staff and contractors. "What is important," advises the HSE, "is that the sections are considered in the order shown. You don't need to do everything in each section." A particular attraction of the toolkit, says Gerry Mulholland, business unit health, safety and environment leader at Laing O'Rourke, is its focus on proactive and not just reactive measures.

The seven steps are:

• "assess how you're doing", which involves using the 15-minute Health and Safety Diagnostic Tool (HSDT). The HSL claims its final tests of the tool confirmed it was a "valid and reliable measure of health and safety culture", providing "a quick and simple means for SMEs to gauge their level of health and safety culture maturity. Importantly, it allows them to assess readiness for change and hence introduce changes that are likely to work". This means, adds the HSL, that SMEs "can therefore be confident with using their results as a basis for action planning. It may be that SME leaders, particularly in very small companies, complete the HSDT and choose not to use the remainder of the toolkit. This is not considered detrimental as some valuable learning can be gained from completing the tool, which could function as a stand-alone measure";
• "find the root of the issues", which helps the SME leader engage workers to find the root causes of any health and safety issues on-site and to learn from mistakes;
• "make it fit with what you do", which helps the SME leader understand the key health and safety risks and shows how LWI can help prevent accidents and ill health on construction sites;
• "lead this in your company", which shows how to provide leadership on health and safety;
• "what's in it for your team", which helps the SME leader motivate workers by spelling out the advantages of working more safely;
• "how your team can carry it out", which helps the SME leader provide workers with skills and knowledge so that they work in a safer and healthier way; and
• "make it last", which emphasises the need to act as a result of using the LWI toolkit and to "keep on learning".

Encouraging SMEs to use the toolkit

The HSL fears the principal barriers to widespread uptake of the toolkit by SMEs are:

• a general lack of awareness of its existence, particularly among small companies that might not access the HSE website;
• the perception - "before properly interacting" with the toolkit - that use would be "a time-consuming and arduous task".

These barriers can be addressed, the HSL argues, through effective marketing and promotion of the toolkit. Instead of HSE communications, the HSL believes "industry word-of-mouth seems to offer the most potential for raising awareness of the toolkit", through presentations at safety group meetings, safety and health awareness days and road shows, publications, social networking, HSE inspectors, and via industry channels such as CITB-ConstructionSkills, and the Federation of Small Businesses. The HSL believes these bodies should use more positive messages than are contained in other health and safety guidance and also "how to" information, making it clear that the toolkit is there to help SMEs rather than to impose new restrictions. SMEs, emphasises the HSL, need to hear the "messages" that the toolkit:

• does not take up much time, with SME leaders able to "pick and choose" from the tools and guidance to suit their needs;
• contains information that SME leaders can use to engage with site operatives, subcontractors and the supply chain on health and safety matters;
• serves several purposes, including improving workplace health and safety attitudes and behaviours, as well as benchmarking progress, "with the caveat that it does not replace regular compliance duties" ("benchmarking" here is restricted to internal use and is not for making external comparisons with other companies);
• links to other information sources and, "ideally in the future, with construction accreditation schemes" (although Crick believes this is currently a much longer-term possibility); and
• "it can bring about quick wins and long-term gains as demonstrated through practical examples provided by other SMEs using the toolkit (through potential future case studies)."

The SMEs that helped develop the toolkit found it innovative, says the HSL, "and welcomed such a positive approach that effectively educated them on the soft skills relating to health and safety management, giving them some key choices to make whilst guiding them in the right direction for generating improvements". This emphasis on soft skills reinforces recent HSE messages and echoes similar findings from the HSE's wider worker involvement initiative, "Safe and sound at work: Do your bit", as well as research into worker involvement in SMEs in Scotland that was carried out by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and published last year by the HSE.

Quick wins

The need for "positive messages" cannot be overstated: the HSL's final-phase testing of the toolkit found that some SMEs believed the introductory video and some aspects of the toolkit still focused on adverse consequences as opposed to the benefits of using it. The HSL is confident that this is largely because the benefits are relatively unknown, and that this will change with use, although it accepts that the generation of case studies is "critical for ongoing development of the business case". The final testing, although unable in just eight weeks to reveal benefits, did find some "quick wins":

• "a better understanding of what good practice would look like and the actions that leaders can take to improve health and safety performance;
• feeling more confident at implementing a behavioural safety action plan;
• positive feedback from workers and the supply chain that the worker web pages were interesting and useful; and
• a means of checking whether existing behaviour-change initiatives were taking the right approach while uncovering additional aspects that could be improved."

Benefits for workers

The toolkit treads a circumspect line when it comes to workers themselves, only occasionally mentioning trade unions, statutory rights to representation and other legal entitlements. In part, this is in keeping with the overall tone of the toolkit and the desire not to frighten off SMEs. It is also, says Crick, a recognition of the low union density on UK construction sites and the fact that "a significant chunk of the construction industry has chosen not to adopt union practices."

Nevertheless, the toolkit offers a dedicated section for workers, covering "rights" and "what is meant by worker involvement", and also links to the HSE's "Do your bit" website:

• In terms of "rights", the toolkit explains: "It's your right to work in an environment where the risks to your health and safety are properly controlled. The main responsibility for this lies with your employer. Employers must consult employees on health and safety matters that affect them. They can do this either directly or through a safety representative. However, many employers go much further than this minimum requirement and use positive worker involvement to highlight areas of concern and implement effective practices."
• Worker involvement, the toolkit advises workers, extends beyond basic requirements such as: "telling you about health and safety risks; training you in safe practices; [and] consulting you about plans that your employer has drawn up". It should also encompass: "asking you to suggest ideas for identifying and controlling risks; making it clear to you that your ideas are valued and will be seriously considered; giving you credit for your ideas; [and] explaining which ideas they will take forward and which they can't, and why".

The section provides advice to workers on three core areas:

• "Knowing why mistakes happen", which notes: "People make mistakes for many reasons. It's not always clear why accidents, injuries or ill health occur on construction sites. But by being engaged you can help managers/supervisors explore all the possible causes. With this approach, individual workers are not blamed for problems, and any issues in the company (eg time pressures, manning levels), can be identified. You and your managers can learn from mistakes and avoid repeating them." This links to a "Human failure" tool, not available at the time of writing.
• "Being competent", which "requires more than the basic skills and knowledge you need for your particular trade. It also includes the behaviours, skills and knowledge you will need to do your job in a safe and healthy way."
• "Dealing with unsafe situations - stop work", which advises: "You have a right to stop work in situations that you feel are unsafe (in a rare move, it actually cites the specific regulation (reg. 9) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 that allows this). The site also links to a two-page explanation of the SLAM technique - Stop, Look, Assess, Manage - although this is actually as much a sheet for managers explaining why they should encourage their workers to use SLAM.

Reaching beyond construction SMEs?

The HSL believes that a modified toolkit could be used in different sectors "because the guidance and tools contained within it are designed around best practice for LWI and therefore aim to help leaders to communicate better with their workforce and improve their own leadership skills" - issues that are not restricted to construction. Further work would be needed on health aspects as otherwise "this could impact on its applicability to sectors where health concerns are paramount".

The HSL also notes that testing illustrated the toolkit's appeal to large construction companies; several of the larger employers we spoke to for this feature mentioned that the tool could prove useful for larger firms where the culture may not be even across all sites or functions.

And leaving aside the toolkit itself, the HSL believes that its preparation has provided insights into how best to communicate with SMEs on other projects (although some of these insights have also played a role in recent HSE work with SMEs):

• the "what's in it for me" case is of "critical importance";
• there is a need to be innovative, visual and interactive when communicating;
• completion should not take too long;
• instructions should be simple;
• take-home messages are essential;
• "evocative personal testimonies offer a strong vehicle for conveying the moral argument, but should be used sparingly to promote maximum impact";
• SMEs should be involved from the start; and
• "use of a website enables structuring of the tools and guidance in a way that conceals the complexity of LWI to SMEs. Users can access further information should they wish to, but are not immediately presented with this. This enables a good balance to be achieved between usability and the scientific integrity of the toolkit."

Blame balance is wrong

There are, of course, caveats with such an ambitious undertaking, notably the ability of the tool to generate significant support among workers and their representatives given its behavioural safety underpinning and its avoidance of the "u" (union) word. (The tool comes out of the Leadership and Worker Involvement Forum, which was formed in autumn 2006 and had been known previously as the Behavioural Change Worker Engagement Forum.)

Nor will the engagement of workers be enhanced by the fourth of the "key principles" set out in box 2, which downplays the underlying role that management failures usually play in workplace accidents and overstates the contribution of worker failings - one of the perennial criticisms of an over-reliance on behavioural safety theory.

That said, the union reaction to the toolkit does not appear hostile. When the HSE's construction industry advisory committee discussed the tool in November 2010, the minutes (PDF format, 52K) (external website) reported the views of UCATT's John Thompson that it was "excellent" and of Unite's Susan Murray that the toolkit looked useful and that Unite could use it in training. She also pointed out, however, that "it included no reference to safety representatives and seemed to be aimed mainly at an employer audience." Crick points out, however, that the toolkit contains a page on safety representatives in the "Worker" pages, but this was not presented to CONIAC, and that he will also add - probably in step six - a reference to safety representatives and formal consultation.

The HSL identified caveats of its own, although it also concluded that these could be overcome:

• the 12 SMEs that helped develop the toolkit is a small number and may be more representative of "the motivated companies in the sector"; and
• other than the HSDT, the tools within the toolkit have not been rigorously tested. The HSL counters, however, that the "tools are underpinned by psychological theory".

Crick points out that the HSE launched the microsite as a Beta version and will make changes to reflect users' experiences via the online feedback form.

Success will depend on the industry

Overall, however, the HSE has good reason to be optimistic about the impact this toolkit could have on SMEs within construction and, later, beyond. The HSL reports that its final testing of the toolkit suggested it "could be a key mechanism for cascading good practice in LWI through the construction sector. In effect, SMEs will be 'learning from the best in construction' and this model seems appropriate for the industry. The toolkit represents a distillation of the good practices of principal contractors and industry consultants. These practices have now been packaged in a way that is amenable to SMEs."

When HSB ran a fictional construction firm through the process, we found it straightforward to use, interestingly presented, interactive and capable of yielding practical results and assistance. At most junctures, it is easy to see the thought that has gone into each aspect. One doubt, however, is whether it is sufficiently simple and rapid to persuade the smaller end of the SME spectrum to use it; the most likely uptake may prove to be among medium-sized firms.

The prognosis for the toolkit, in the end, will depend on the ability and enthusiasm of the construction industry to cascade the tool, both because the research indicates uptake is more likely if encouragement is industry-led, but also because the HSE is, like other government departments, subject to a freeze on its communications spending. The signs here are promising, with many of the leading players in the industry committed to using the toolkit and exhorting others to use it. The list of principal contractors behind the project is impressive: Bovis Homes, Bovis Lend Lease, Carillion, Laing O'Rourke, MW Kellogg, Mace, Morgan Sindall and William Hare. Mike Evans, who is head of health, safety and environment at capital projects within British Airports Authority (BAA), says that BAA has "identified leadership at all levels and worker buy-in as the major contributors to reductions in injuries at BAA projects. As a major client, BAA will now challenge all its tier-one contractors to use the toolkit and to cascade the toolkit down the chain. If others follow suit, construction workers and employers should share mutual gains.