NASC, the National Access and Scaffolding Confederation, has launched its latest Safety Report, documenting the statistics for scaffolding safety in 2012 for all 201 NASC contracting member companies, covering some 14,098 operatives.
The report contains accident statistics, together with a comparison of NASC accident data with industry statistics supplied by the HSE. It provides details of injuries and fatalities, and the causes and analysis of these incidents. It also covers NASC safety support and guidance, advice, membership criteria and objectives, prefaced by an uncompromising statement from the current NASC President, Rob Lynch, of Lyndon Scaffolding.
NASC Safety Report statistics show that there was one fatality in 2012 (the first since 2004) and that slips, trips and falls are still the major cause (34%) of accidents and injuries in the industry. This is the tenth consecutive year that slips, trips and falls have been in the number one accident and injury spot.
Further analysis reveals that scaffolders are also still the most at risk (52% of accidents), followed by labourers (25%), trainees (10%), advanced scaffolders (8%), supervisors (3%), drivers (3%) and managers (0%) – and that the 21-to-30 age group is most at risk.
Encouragingly, the report reveals that the total number of injuries dropped from 145 in 2011 to 134 in 2012, and that manual handling injuries decreased significantly from 37 to 17, a reduction of 54%.
Accidents as a result of falls from height, however, increased from 27 to 32 in 2012, whilst falls from ladders remained static at five incidents.
Meanwhile, Adrian Rooney, Chairman of the NASC Health and Safety Committee, says: “The NASC Safety Report shows that the efforts and commitment of member companies – and above all those who work on committees and groups to produce safety guidance, training and associated literature – are succeeding.
“We have, yet again, seen a fall in overall figures for accidents/incidents, despite an increase in the number of operatives. But most heartening is the correlation between member figures and those for our industry as a whole – which shows that NASC members continue to outperform the industry” he said.
