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Warbud News

2018-03-26
Warbud has handed over presidency in the Agreement on Construction Safety

On March 22, 2018, after two years of the company's presidency in the Agreement on Construction Safety, Warbud transferred to the company Unibep the management of the informal association of twelve largest general contractors on the Polish market.

The change is a consequence of the arrangements made among the signatories of the Agreement according to which one term of leadership in the association lasts for two years. The Agreement on Construction Safety was established in 2010. The first company holding presidency was Skanska who then transferred it to Budimex. From March 2016 until present Warbud was the leader.

'We can be proud of our work but there is still a lot to do. 'We need to work constantly on improving safety in our companies, cooperate in this area with the investors, influence subcontractors and teach them good practices,' said Jerzy Werle, Chairman of the Management Board of Warbud SA, acting as President of the Agreement. 'We must create coalitions to reduce the number of accidents, including fatalities, on construction sites.

Statistics published by State Labour Inspection PIP statistics show that there are fewer fatal accidents on Polish construction sites each year. In 2008, there were as many as 127, and in 2017 only 71. That is a significant decrease,' emphasized Mr Werle, 'but still 71 employees have lost their lives on construction sites. We still have a lot to do as the Agreement and the entire construction industry. Our goal is zero accidents.'

The effects of the two-year presidency

In the period of Warbud's presidency other companies - Strabag and Karmar - joined the Agreement while Rembor became an affiliate member of the association. In accordance with the principle that no one works alone in terms of safety, in 2016 the Agreement established cooperation with the Association of Ready-Mix Concrete Producers and the Polish Association of Special Foundation Contractors. In the following year cooperation was also initiated with the Polish Commercial Chamber of Scaffolding and the Institute of Mechanised Construction and Rock Mining. At the same time, local agreements were established in Bydgoszcz, Rzeszów, Białystok, Olsztyn and Szczecin which draw on the models and experiences of the Agreement on Construction Safety.

Projects completed by the health and safety team in the last two years include:

  • Book of Standards for particularly dangerous works (120 standards). It is available to both members of the Agreement to all subcontractors on the website of the Agreement.
  • Free periodic trainings for small and medium enterprises in cooperation with the Social Insurance Institution (two editions in 2016 and 2017, covering 16 voivodships).
  • Post-accident application allowing to obtain uniformly formatted data on accidents and perform their systematic analysis.
  • A draft of the common standard of PBB and the Polish Commercial Chamber of Scaffolding regarding the acceptance and operation of scaffoldings.
  • A new version of the document entitled Risk Assessment & Safe Work Method Statement common to all the signatories.
  • Continuation of the Safety Week - the largest educational initiative attracting every year over 30 000 of our employees.

One of the priority actions during this presidency was the involvement in legislative processes to trigger necessary changes in the Urban and Construction Code and Public Procurement Law, especially in the context of methods of enforcement of construction work safety and greater involvement of investors and officials in occupational health and safety matters. 

Nothing about us without us

After eight years of its presence on the market, the Agreement on Construction Safety is not only recognizable but it is also an important opinion-forming voice in the field of safety. The effects of the initiatives and activities undertaken by the signatories have been noticed by public institutions such as the State Labour Inspectorate, Ministry of Infrastructure, Social Security Institution or GDDKiA which treat the Agreement as a social partner and invite it to cooperation. 

The activities of the Agreement have led to a lower acceptance of dangerous ways of working, to increasing the awareness of employees and subcontractors who are beginning to understand PBB standards and work in accordance with them, and to increasing the work culture on construction sites.

In the photograph: Jerzy Werle, Warbud's CEO (right) honoured with a gift - his cartoon. Next to Mr Werle - Mr Leszek Gołąbiecki, CEO of Unibep SA

 

'The crossbar was set really high,' said Leszek Gołąbiecki, CEO of Unibep SA. 'I strongly believe that together, as before, we will work to raise the health and safety culture in the construction industry. It's up to all of us - at every level - to work in an ever safer industry. But we have to do a lot of work - both inside our companies as well as around the construction industry. Thank you for trust and I count on your cooperation and help.'

Initiatives aimed at improving security are supported by many communities related to the construction industry. This allows us to look into the future with a hope that construction will cease to be an infamous example of high accident rates.

The Agreement on Construction Safety gathers 12 construction companies. These are: Budimex, Erbud, Hochtief Polska, Karmar, Mostostal Warszawa, Mota-Engil, PORR Polska Infrastructure, Polimex Mostostal, Skanska, Strabag, Unibep and Warbud. The signatories of the Agreement constantly improve the levels of safety on their projects and share good practices in the field of health and safety with business partners, suppliers and subcontractors. The Agreement promotes a safety culture, makes people aware of the dangers of working on a construction site and consequently eliminates the risk of accidents, including fatal accidents.

More information at: www.porozumieniedlabezpieczenstwa.pl

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