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A man dies on a Polish construction site once in three days. Each year there are more than 100 fatal accidents. How to prevent them? Ideas, solutions and benefits of a safe working environment were presented by participants of the discussion panel 'Economic and social benefits of occupational safety management in the construction process.' The following persons took part in the discussion: Jerzy Werle, Warbud SA's Chairman, Małgorzata Stręciwilk, President of the Public Procurement Office, Tomasz Żuchowski, Vice-Minister of Infrastructure and Construction, Mariusz Pyrcz from the District Labour Inspectorate in Krakow and Adam Pawłowicz, Vice-Chairman of the company Work Service S.A.

The discussion was started by Michał Wiśniewski, coordinator of the Agreement on Construction Safety and panel moderator by stating that in the last decade the construction market in Poland has significantly changed but the side effect of that change is the high number of casualties - 1500 people in the whole period.

Polish workers do not have a safety culture

According to Warbud's Chairman Jerzy Werle representing the Agreement in the Panel, despite the fact that "the situation is better than in the past" in the field of safety on construction sites "it is still bad". Mr. Werle said that in order to improve the situation it is necessary to change the mentality of all members of the construction process. He also pointed out that 'We have similar observations regarding road safety - unfortunately the Poles do not have a safety culture.'

In Mr Werle's opinion it has become very necessary to change the law and increase the responsibility of the Investor and Entrepreneur for construction site safety.

'The present regulations were introduced many years ago and now 100% of responsibility for site safety lies with the site manager. This must be changed as a site manager does not have a very significant influence on the resources which could be used,' he said. According to Mr Werle it is also necessary to establish and implement good practices.

Another factor contributing to an increase of the safety levels on construction site would be an introduction of safety requirements to tender specifications in public contracts, which constitute a very large part of the construction market.

He proposed that 'Specifications imposed by contracting entities should contain elements of safety and negative scoring for those companies in which fatal accidents occurred.' He noticed that some of the suggestions he had mentioned could be implemented in several months.

Good practices rather than changes in law

Ms Małgorzata Stręciwilk, President of the Public Procurement Office agreed that negative tender bid assessment criteria are a legitimate proposal, but they should not necessarily be introduced by new regulations. 'What matters here are good practices, the Office has been working on establishing various new templates of documents, contractual provisions and tender bid assessment criteria (...),' she said.

All the participants of the Wednesday discussion agreed that in Poland there are a number of OHS regulations in force designed to protect workers but it is necessary to enforce them in a more determined way.

Work on a reform of the development process completed

Mr Tomasz Żuchowski, Vice-Minister of infrastructure and construction, was sceptical about the idea to 'strengthen the legal system' by adding new regulations. In his opinion such a solution will not solve the problem of bad organisation of work.

In his opinion a very important role is played by those companies which win tenders - they should force their subcontractors to observe certain standards. This could be regulated in their subcontracts containing clauses that safety matters are of major importance and a failure to observe them could lead to financial consequences.

The Vice-Minister said that the Ministry has finished work on the reform of the construction development system which has been announced for years. This refers to the City Planning and Construction Code. - 'I think that within one month we will be able to publically consult the proposal, this will also be a chance to incorporate in it suggestions regarding safety on construction sites as well as to determine the roles of the individual participants of the construction process,' he stated.

Mr Mariusz Pyrcz from Regional Labour Inspectorate in Krakow noticed that the number of fatal accidents in the construction industry has been clearly decreasing for the last five years - by approximately 10 percent per year. He added that nearly one third of accidents on construction sites are caused by among others incorrect human behaviour.

The discussion panel on the occupational safety prepared the 'Agreement on Construction Safety' was an impulse for further discussions. The topics were then publicised by journalists of Polish Press Agency PAP and Polish Radio Channel 3 (Trójka).

The Agreement on Construction Safety is an initiative aimed at improving safety levels on Polish construction sites. The Agreement has ten members - general contractors: Budimex, Erbud, HOCHTIEF Polska, Mota-Engil, Mostostal Warszawa, Polimex Mostostal, PORR Polska Infrastructure, Skanska, Unibep and Warbud.

The model for the activities under the Agreement is the United Kingdom. In the late 1990s. in the UK the number of fatal accidents was around 120 per year, which is similar to the present number in Poland. The number was then reduced by half.

According to Agreement, each company will preside it in a two-year term. At present the leader of the association is Warbud.