317 million accidents occur on jobs annually; many of these resulting in extended absences from work. The human cost of this daily adversity is vast. Not to mention the economic burden of poor occupational safety and health practices is estimated at 4 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product each year.
This international campaign promotes safe, healthy and decent working conditions around the globe and this year the campaign attempts to take stock of a 100 years of work on improving occupational safety and health and looks to the future for continuing these efforts through major changes such as technology, demographics, sustainable development including climate change and changes in work organisation.
In light of the International Labour Organisation’s World Day for Safety & Health at work which took place on the 28th April, we wanted to demonstrate some of the ways in which CAN has changed its health & safety through the years.
- Changing our procedure for permissible HAVs exposure points by reducing HAVS (Hand Arm Vibration) on Geotechnical sites from 400 points to 100 points, completely removing harm as opposed to monitoring exposure and health surveillance
- Improvement of diet on site (site operatives reformed awareness of healthy eating)
- Exercise and well-being improvements in the workplace – lunchtime walks and increasing amount of site operatives using gyms, cycling, entering tough mudders etc
- Use of recreational drugs and alcohol reduced with regular spot testing for D&A throughout the year on our sites
- Changes to our PPE from red to hi-vis with reflective strips making our Operatives more visible on site
- Less manual handling by using telehandlers or hi-ab wagons
- More comfort for site teams – choosing welfare with more space, ensuring somewhere to dry wet clothing. Lightweight long sleeved tops for summer and heavy duty waterproof overalls for winter.