Constructiońs health and safety Plan: The leading role of the main preventive management document on construction sites

• Published in: Safety science 2021-11, Vol.143, p.105437, Article 105437
• Main Authors: González García, M.N., Segarra Cañamares, M., Villena Escribano, B.M., Romero Barriuso, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Case study; Construction industry; Construction sector; Construction sites; Health and safety plan; Occupational health; Occupational risk-prevention; Occupational safety; Preventive regulations; Regulations; Safety; Safety management; Safety regulations; Small & medium sized enterprises-SME
• ISSN: 0925-7535; 1879-1042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssci.2021.105437

•A randomized analysis size sample of 3600 Health and Safety Plans shows deficient integration on preventive management on construction sites.•Only 13.81% of the Health and Safety Plans analyzed contemplate specific risk assessments for on-site construction activities.•Health and Safety Plans are approved by competent technicians in the field of construction despite the serious breaches detected in matters of prevention.•Health and Safety Plans should not be approved without the identification of the agents involved in construction sites and the planning of preventive action. The European Union's strategic framework seeks to better protect its millions of workers from work-related accidents and illnesses. One of the main challenges, included in the European Strategy 2014–2020, is to improve the application of existing health and safety regulations, one of the strategic objectives being to help small and medium-sized companies to better comply with safety regulations and health. This study focuses on the Construction Sector, considered one of the economic activities with the highest accident rate, hardship and danger. Its objective, based on the regulatory framework that regulates health and safety in the Sector, is to know the effectiveness of the main management tool that construction works have, the Health and Safety Plan. In this study, 3600 Health and Safety Plans were analyzed in the Autonomous Community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. The results show that the Health and Safety Plans are documents that present great deficiencies and that do not comply with the regulatory requirements, putting at risk the management of prevention in the workplace and therefore the health and safety of its workers.