On 4 March 2015 yet another person, a 20 year old, has died on a construction site. The man was engulfed in a trench collapse. He was laying pipes in a trench at a housing development site in outer Melbourne when he was killed. Now his family, workmates and friends are mourning, and I am sure asking themselves that ubiquitous question – why?
It beggars belief that incidents such as this keep occurring. We have a plethora of knowledge of how to go about trenching activities. Standards, guidance notes and the like abound. A safety alert, issued by Worksafe Victoria in August 2011 stated the following:
A number of incidents have occurred recently where workers have been seriously injured after being engulfed while working in trenches that have collapsed. Wet weather and increased ground moisture has created a higher risk of ground slippage and engulfment. Trenches greater than a metre deep can pose a significant risk to workers, especially those who are bending down to work on pipes or other services. The risk of fatalities will also considerably increase with depth.
So why did this occur? Sure, we’ll find out eventually when all the investigating has been done. But that’s all too late. Was it ignorance? Carelessness? Cost? Is this an endemic issue in the construction industry?
There is a righteous anger about such preventable incidents that keep occurring. What are we to do? Who can influence to bring about change? and what would you consider to be the three most significant factors contributing to the incident? Do you have a similar issue in the workplace that you wish to share and discuss? Feel free to leave your comments below.