A hard-hitting film by the Health & Safety Executive highlights the real-world impact of workplace accidents, and the importance of edge protection and guard rails, as well as precautions against other threats like asbestos and electricity.
The video, entitled Turning Concern Into Action, marks the culmination of the HSE’s Safer Sites campaign, which has been running in recent weeks to urgently encourage those with responsibility for workplace safety to ensure adequate protection is in place.
In the film, victims and family members speak about a variety of accidents, including one man burned after drilling into a cable, one who developed cancer due to asbestos exposure, and a man killed in a collapsing trench.
But several of the stories feature falls from height – still one of the biggest workplace killers – and the video opens on a shot of a wheelchair-bound man staring out to sea.
Ian Whittingham fell through a fragile roof – something that can be prevented with guard rails around any weak parts, and walkovers to provide a safe route across – and says he knew he would never walk again from the moment he hit the floor.
The video ends on a powerful message: “They deserve more. It shouldn’t be happening.”
With suitable edge protection, walkovers and other such safety precautions, all workplaces can be made ‘safer sites’, and nobody needs to become another statistic in the years to come.