Women in Construction

Women in construction are underrepresented and most frequently found on construction sites in the fields of administrative and technical positions, such as architecture and civil engineering.

According to the CSO, women make up only 5.5% of the workforce in all construction-related sectors in Ireland (compared to 10% EU average).

According to the Construction Industry Federation’s Member Diversity Survey, “without female talent, the industry’s efforts to deliver critical Government housing and infrastructure strategies such as Rebuilding Ireland, the National Development Plan, and the National Planning Framework may fall short.” We must all do more to actively support women in the industry and encourage young women to pursue careers in construction.

 

Benefits of Gender Diversity in the Irish Construction Industry

Despite the low numbers of women in construction, there is evidence to suggest that women participation can bring many benefits to the construction industry. In addition, research has shown that gender diversity leads to improved decision-making, increased creativity, and enhanced innovation.

As a matter of fact, companies with greater gender balance are also more likely to outperform those that lack diversity. In other words, making the case for increased female representation in construction becomes more compelling.

Despite the fact that the construction sector is traditionally known as a male-dominated industry, the low number of women working in construction can be attributed to a number of factors, including:

• a lack of awareness of the opportunities available in the sector,
• a lack of female role models and mentors,
• a perceived lack of flexibility in the industry.

However, there are many initiatives underway to address these barriers and promote the participation of women in construction.

 

Promoting Women in Construction

Some of the projects that promote women in construction by enabling information and education is FEMCON project. FEMCON’s mission is to create innovative vocational education and training tools to help women working in or considering a career in the construction industry advance to visible roles within the industry. The project’s goal is to make the industry more appealing to women, resulting in a greater number of women choosing the sector, creating conditions for positive change, and improving the industry’s gender outlook and quality of life in the male-dominated sector.

Diversity is having a culture that values uniqueness: people of different backgrounds, cultures, genders, and races. Inclusion means inviting diverse groups to take part in company life. But there’s a third critical piece: belonging. It’s belonging that makes each individual feel accepted for who they are. Explore the diversity, inclusion, and belonging (DIB) approach in this eLearn Safety fully online course Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. In this eLearning course we will explore the need for diversity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace, how to build a diverse workplace, your role in this, how to check your unconscious bias and also how to take on an ally role.

 

Online Health and Safety Training

Proactive Health and Safety training is critical to ensure a safe workplace. An effective training program can reduce the number of worker injuries and deaths. It can also reduce instances of property damage, legal liability, illnesses, and missed time from work.

Health and Safety training helps establish a culture in which employees themselves help promote proper safety procedures while on the job. It is important that new employees be properly trained and embrace the importance of workplace safety. The role of training in developing and maintaining effective hazard control activities is a proven and successful method of intervention.

This is why we have established Myelearnsafety school. We pride ourselves in how we guide, support and mentor our students. They receive support throughout their learning experience and into their working lives. Our staff have extensive training experience and also have many years industry experience. We understand the challenges that exist within Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety. Our priority is to ensure that all learners are fully prepared to differentiate themselves in the workplace after completing our Health and Safety courses.

Myelearnsafety offers fully online Health and Safety courses.

To find out more, please check our Courses page.

Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie

Understanding People in the Workplace Environment

Understanding people in the workplace environment is essential if we are to achieve a safe workplace. In reality, accidents in the workplace are ‘people’ problems. At some point in any work-related situation, immediate or distant, people and decisions were involved. Undoubtedly, it is the task of modern safety management systems to recognise that fact. Consequently, the opportunities for mistakes and the harm that can arise when they are made should be minimised.

To err is human. We all make mistakes. Awareness of our limitations is needed before we can set up systems successfully which take those limitations into account and maximise safety efforts in any workplace.

 

Behavioural factors

Understanding behavioural factors, or as often referred to as ‘human factors’ are essential in understanding people in the workplace environment. These factors which may affect human performance include:

• Perceptual, mental and physical capabilities of people.
• Interaction of people with their organisations, jobs and working environment.
• Influence of equipment and systems design on human performance.
• Organisational characteristics which influence safety-related behaviour.
• Social and inherited characteristics of people.

Modern techniques of managing safety and health incorporate best practice within them so as to produce and influence a positive safety culture.

 

Promotion of a Positive Safety Culture

Promoting and fostering positive attitudes to safety and health can be done by:

• Effective communication. Passing information to and from, and regular consultation with the employees.
• Achieving a positive commitment to safety by senior management that is both real and visible.
• Maintaining good training standards.
• Maintaining good working environments with a high potential for safe working conditions to be achieved.

All these can be, and must be, found within organisations committed to a high standard of excellence in safety and health at work.

 

Maintaining Good Training Standards

Training for health and safety is not an end in itself, rather, it is a means to an end. With this in mind, a few conditions need to be present for any safety training to be successful:

• The active commitment, support and interest of management,
• Necessary finance and organisation to provide the opportunity for learning to take place, and
• The availability of suitable expertise in the subject.

eLearn Safety is a training organisation which provides high quality online, blended and face-to-face safety training courses. To this end,  eLearn Safety program development and delivery is driven by customer service values where the learner is able to engage in the learning process however and wherever they want. In addition, all eLearn Safety staff are highly trained and receive ongoing CPD. A number of fully online Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety courses is available through eLearn Safety courses website page.

Safety is not just for the workplace. Safety is part of everyday life; from first aid to food safety, these skills improve the quality of life not only in the workplace but at home and in the community.

In addition to eLearn Safety courses, there is a number of available workplace safety information available online. For example, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) provides a wealth of information about the topic via their Workplace Health website page. Additionally, Citizens Information offers a number of relevant information via their website page Health and safety at work.

 

Understanding People in the Workplace Environment – Why does it Matter?

The main health and safety regulations in Ireland are the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and Safety, Health and welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007. The Act 2005 applies to employers, employees and the self-employed. Indeed, this is done in the interest of securing a preventive approach to occupational health and safety. In addition, the GA Regulations 2007 outline the specific workplace safety matters.

Many specific pieces of health and safety legislation contain requirements to provide training for employees engaged in certain tasks. However, it should be noted that there is a general duty placed on employers to ensure that all employees are trained and provided with information, instruction and supervision as necessary to ensure their health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable.

The support of management demonstrates the presence of the environment into which the trained person can return and exercise new skills and knowledge. The management team also demonstrates support by setting good examples. Workers are most likely to stop obeying safety rules if supervisors and managers are known to ignore them.

 

Online Health and Safety Training

Proactive Health and Safety training is critical to ensure a safe workplace. An effective training program can reduce the number of worker injuries and deaths. It can also reduce instances of property damage, legal liability, illnesses, and missed time from work.

Health and Safety training helps establish a culture in which employees themselves help promote proper safety procedures while on the job. It is important that new employees be properly trained and embrace the importance of workplace safety. The role of training in developing and maintaining effective hazard control activities is a proven and successful method of intervention.

This is why we have established Myelearnsafety school. We pride ourselves in how we guide, support and mentor our students. They receive support throughout their learning experience and into their working lives. Our staff have extensive training experience and also have many years industry experience. We understand the challenges that exist within Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety. Our priority is to ensure that all learners are fully prepared to differentiate themselves in the workplace after completing our Health and Safety courses.

Myelearnsafety offers fully online Health and Safety courses.

To find out more, please check our Courses page.

Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie

 

Workers’ Memorial Day

Workers’ Memorial Day is marked around the world on the 28th April each year. On this date we remember those who have been killed or injured in work related incidents.

The Grim Statistics

Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2016 all employers and self-employed persons are legally obliged to report the injury of an employee as a result of an accident while at work. In particular, injuries must be reported if an employee is unable to carry out their normal work for more than three consecutive days, excluding the day of the accident.

The work-related injuries include any injuries incurred by workers in the course of their work. To clarify, these injuries can range from minor injuries to the most serious injuries that resulted in death. According to the Health and Safety Authority of Ireland and the Health and Safety Statistics they publish, the following is workplace fatalities statistics for years 2013 – 2022:

• 2013 – 47 fatalities.
• 2014 – 55 fatalities.
• 2015 – 56 fatalities.
• 2016 – 48 fatalities.
• 2017 – 48 fatalities.
• 2018 – 39 fatalities.
• 2019 – 49 fatalities.
• 2020 – 54 fatalities.
• 2021 – 38 fatalities.
• 2022 – 28 fatalities.

The total number of fatalities for the period 2013/22 is staggering 462.

Workplace Injuries, Illnesses and Fatalities (2021–2022) – Full Report.

 

Non-Fatal Injuries Reported to the HSA

It is not only fatalities that can leave a lasting mark and cause human suffering. Of course, the physical and mental pain, and hardship in general resulting from injury and disability is impossible to quantify. The disruption to lives of workers and their families it causes is far reaching with lasting consequences.

In summary, in 2022, 9,070 non-fatal injuries were reported to the HSA which is an increase of 8% from the 8,371 reported in 2021. For example, the most injured body part for workers in 2022 was the back, associated with 26% of non-fatal incidents reported to the Authority. This is in keeping with recent years, with back injuries comprising 27% of all non-fatal injuries reported to the Authority between 2018 and 2022. Non-fatal back injuries were caused primarily by manual handling incidents.

 

Workplace Accidents

Accidents are a direct result of unsafe activities and unsafe conditions. These can be controlled by proactive management practices and employee awareness. The Management is responsible for the creation and maintenance of the working environment and work-related tasks. To prevent workplace injuries and illness the employer must:

• Provide and keep safe workplaces, machinery and equipment.
• Reduce the chance of risks when using any item or substance and from exposure to physical agents, noise and vibration.
• Prevent any improper conduct or behaviour which might put the safety, health and welfare of employees at risk (for example, ‘horseplay’ or bullying at work).
• Provide instruction and training to employees on health and safety.
• Provide protective clothing and equipment to employees at no cost to employees.
• Appoint a suitable person as the organisation’s safety officer.

Employees must be given information, and the knowledge that accidents are not inevitable but are caused. They need training to develop skills and recognise the need to comply with safe systems of work. Furthermore, they should take an active role in developing said safe systems of work and report and correct unsafe conditions and practices. Without doubt, employee safety awareness and attitudes require constant review and improvement where necessary.

 

The Purpose of Workers’ Memorial Day

The purpose of Workers’ Memorial Day is to remember those who have been killed or injured in work related incidents. However, the purpose of this day is more than just remembrance. Indeed, the purpose is to promote a safe work climate and culture, one which fosters good workplace safety and health practices and conditions. For additional information about workplace safety, please see eLearn Safety blog entry from 21st April 2023 titled Workplace Accidents and Their Prevention. In addition, a blog entry Workplace Hazards from 24th February 2023 provides some additional information about hazards in the workplace. For example, it looks into how to identify and address workplace hazards.

Accident prevention in the workplace is not just setting up a list of rules and enforcing these. Having said this, the rules are certainly important but they are and should be part of a larger picture – developing and managing a system for managing health and safety. Worker safety and health is everyone’s business and can only be tackled through a collaborative approach by all.

 

Workers’ Memorial Day 2024

We must remember those who have lost their lives at work, or from work-related injury and diseases. In addition, remembrance must be coupled with the commitment to fight for a world that’s more, not less, safe to live and work in.

To mark Workers’ Memorial Day 2024 there are a range of initiatives that your organisation should consider including:

• Hold a minute’s silence at 12 noon in your workplace.
• Get involved by using the national Workers’ Memorial Day Ireland logo on a website, social media presence, presentations, email signatures, displays and in offices and workplaces.
• Organise an in-house training sessions and/or a toolbox talk.
• Website/Social Media/Newsletter content.
• Organise Awareness Talk with a Guest speaker presentation to your staff.
• Use #WorkersMemorialDay on all social media activity.

It is very important to have an effective occupational health management system in place. Overall, there are sound economic reasons for reducing work-related accidents and ill-health, as well as ethical and regulatory reasons. Markedly, businesses that manage safety and health successfully invariably have a positive safety culture. Without a doubt, Health and Safety training helps establish a culture in which employees themselves help promote proper safety procedures while on the job. With this in mind, it is important that new employees be properly trained and embrace the importance of workplace safety. In other words, the role of training in developing and maintaining effective hazard control activities is a proven and successful method of intervention.

 

Online Health and Safety Training

Proactive Health and Safety training is critical to ensure a safe workplace. An effective training program can reduce the number of worker injuries and deaths. It can also reduce instances of property damage, legal liability, illnesses, and missed time from work.

Health and Safety training helps establish a culture in which employees themselves help promote proper safety procedures while on the job. It is important that new employees be properly trained and embrace the importance of workplace safety. The role of training in developing and maintaining effective hazard control activities is a proven and successful method of intervention.

This is why we have established Myelearnsafety school. We pride ourselves in how we guide, support and mentor our students. They receive support throughout their learning experience and into their working lives. Our staff have extensive training experience and also have many years industry experience. We understand the challenges that exist within Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety. Our priority is to ensure that all learners are fully prepared to differentiate themselves in the workplace after completing our Health and Safety courses.

Myelearnsafety offers fully online Health and Safety courses.

To find out more, please check our Courses page.

Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie

Reasons for Promoting Workplace Safety

Reasons for promoting workplace safety are numerous. Poor workplace safety can have serious business costs, human costs and legal costs. In addition, the need to protect people from injury and disease while they are at work has a strong moral reasoning. Every year, accidents at work cost the Irish industry millions of euros. The effects of the injuries sustained vary from needing an extended period of time off work, never being able to work again, to sometimes unfortunately, injuries being fatal.

 

Four Main Reasons for Promoting Workplace Safety

There are many reasons why accident prevention in the workplace is worthwhile. For the purpose of this text we will discuss four:

1. The cost of human suffering. The physical and mental pain, and hardship in general resulting from death and disability is impossible to quantify. The disruption to lives of workers and their families it causes is far reaching with lasting consequences.
2. Moral reasons. Societal development raised public awareness about quality of life at work and its importance. Workers safety, once seen as unimportant or marginally important business activity is now expected by the society in general. The business is viewed by the public through its treatment of its employees. This might directly influence employee attraction and retention rates and business profitability or lack of one.
3. Legal reasons. The statute law details steps to be taken and objectives to be met in terms of workplace health and safety. Compliance is not optional – it is mandatory. Non compliance might result in serious legal prosecutions, or other enforcement actions. In addition, the civil law enables injured workers and others to gain compensation either as a result of breach of statutory duties or because a reasonable standard of care was not provided under the particular circumstances.
4. Financial reasons. To ensure the continuing financial health of a business and to avoid the costs associated with accidents, implementation of accident prevention is a must.

 

Health and Safety Legislation

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is the statutory body in Ireland responsible for the enforcement of occupational health and safety law. The HSA reports directly to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Health and Safety legislation in Ireland is designed to secure and improve the Safety, Health and Welfare of people at work. Specifically, this is done by advocating a risk assessment approach to managing workplace safety. For additional information about risk assessments, please see eLearn Safety blog entry from 12th January 2024 titled Workplace Risk Assessment.

The main health and safety regulations in Ireland are the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and Safety, Health and welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007. The Act 2005 applies to employers, employees and the self-employed. Indeed, this is done in the interest of securing a preventive approach to occupational health and safety. In addition, the GA Regulations 2007 outline the specific workplace safety matters.

 

Achieving Workplace Safety

There are many obstacles to the achievement of safe working conditions. Specifically, most common obstacles are the pressure of production or performance targets, financial constraints and the complexity of the organisations. Unfortunately, these obstacles are sometimes blatant disregard of basic health and safety regulations and poor health and safety management practices.

In difficult economic times, organisations need to reduce their costs. This often impacts on the management of health and safety. For example, training of workers in safe systems of work or plant equipment maintenance could be neglected. One way to keep staff informed about workplace safety is eLearn Safety fully online Workplace Safety – Level 1 course. This course is ideal for every employee in any workplace that’s subject to Health and Safety Legislation. In other words, safety in the workplace is everyone’s responsibility. In particular, it provides all employees who participate on this course with information on how to identify hazards and carry out simple risk assessments.

 

Online Health and Safety Training

Proactive Health and Safety training is critical to ensure a safe workplace. An effective training program can reduce the number of worker injuries and deaths. It can also reduce instances of property damage, legal liability, illnesses, and missed time from work.

Health and Safety training helps establish a culture in which employees themselves help promote proper safety procedures while on the job. It is important that new employees be properly trained and embrace the importance of workplace safety. The role of training in developing and maintaining effective hazard control activities is a proven and successful method of intervention.

This is why we have established Myelearnsafety school. We pride ourselves in how we guide, support and mentor our students. They receive support throughout their learning experience and into their working lives. Our staff have extensive training experience and also have many years industry experience. We understand the challenges that exist within Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety. Our priority is to ensure that all learners are fully prepared to differentiate themselves in the workplace after completing our Health and Safety courses.

Myelearnsafety offers fully online Health and Safety courses.

To find out more, please check our Courses page.

Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie