Letters
Does MA Williams (Letters last week) really think that managers in construction simply shrug their shoulders and clear up the mess when a near miss occurs?
There is a very strong safety ethos among managers in construction. As a site agent I can honestly say that every near miss that has come to my attention has been properly reported and investigated. I believe the vast majority of managers in construction take the same approach.
The root of the problem is that the workers out on site who see these near misses occur do not report them to site management. In spite of our best efforts to promote a culture of open communication without fear of repercussions people are still scared of getting into trouble. If the site management is not made aware of such incidents we cannot report them, investigate them or learn from them.
If anybody has any bright ideas about how to change the behavioural culture of our site workforce I would be delighted to hear them. Until then I have to agree that we will not see many incident reports of the type proposed by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Greg Riddle, 17 Ashley Hall Gardens, Linlithgow, West Lothian, EH49 7DN
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