Safety in Working at Heights in Construction Industry–
Summary.
Call. Leonardo Da Vinci 2013
Multilateral projects.Transfer of Innovation
Deadline 31/1/2013
A. Background
Health and safety in the workplace is currently one of the most important aspects of developing
an EU policy in regards to employment and social affairs. Courses are continuously being
implemented in all professional sectors, particularly those where accidents happen more
frequently, but not always these courses get the expected impact among attending workers and
companies and the rates of accidents and work-related illnesses are still very high across
European countries.
This situation is particularly relevant in construction. According EUROSTAT, Construction sector
suffers the highest rate for fatal and non-fatal accidents at work. Moreover it has been identified
that nearly 40% of fatal accidents within construction sector are due to fall from heights. There
are some factors that make workers in this sector to be particularly exposed to work accidents:

Construction sector is highly fragmented, with small companies where it is very difficult
to implement an effective and standardized risk´s prevention policy. In addition, many
dangerous labours are carried out by workers with a low level of qualification and
training.

Many tasks are done in height, sometimes in places where access is difficult. Often
these works are done outside, where exposure to inclement weather (wind, sun
irradiation, etc) make working conditions even harder.

There is a scarcity or deficiency in measures and equipment related to protection
against falls.

Instability of structural elements, unprotected holes or inadequate assembly elements.

Individual protection measures (harnesss, horizontal lifeline…) are frequently not used,
or used in an inadequate manner.

Finally, high workload, irregularity in working ours and schedule, exceeding frequently
labour legislation in certain workload conditions, besides aforementioned reasons, are
the cause of many accidents in construction sector.
This situation is common to the majority of countries across Europe. The techniques used for
working at heights are also similar across Europe. These will make this tool to be useful not only
in the involved countries, but also in all countries in Europe. This problem is particularly
important among small and medium-sized enterprises, where the implementation of the risk
prevention measures is particularly low. Actually, the biggest number of the accidents and
professional illness in construction sector is among workers of SME’s.
B. Objectives
The main aim of this project is to promote the use of risk prevention measures in as a
complementary training for height workers through the production of innovative training material
in 3D. It will be based on transferring the methodology of a previous transnational consortium
working in the field of risk prevention for other sectors, which results are widely promoted and
disseminated by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. It will contribute to
organizations giving course in risk prevention for construction sector achieve the desired impact
in the numerous courses implemented within the European Union related to health and safety in
construction.
In order to achieve this general aim, several particular and specific objectives have been
established:

To compile European and Country-specific regulations related to risk prevention
measures applicable to construction sector.

To research on the main height works of construction and its related risks in the
countries represented in the project. This study will cover three main areas:


situations with highest risk of accident or injury.
current level of implementation of risk prevention measures.

To define the key situations to be covered in the multimedia material to be produced.

To establish the content that must be included in the training tool to be produced.

To elaborate the scripts of the animations in order to pass on to the users the right way
to perform their tasks and make them aware of the problems for their health and safety
arisen from the non-use of the safety equipment and the performance of their task
without having into account the recommended procedures.

To produce an ICT based tool for training and raising awareness of the workers in the
area of risk prevention. This tool will include 10-12 sketches based on the situations
selected as the most important for risk prevention. It will be for direct and free use over
the Internet by the end user, and meanly for its use as a support material in the
numerous health and safety courses distributed within construction industries.

To promote the implementation of training courses based on the materials developed
and its use among companies, unions, VET schools, public institutions and any other
organization related to construction.

To widely disseminate the project and its products.
C. Type of transfer
This project will be based in the NAPO concept, which consist meanly in presenting the
information in a funny and attractive way and which main aim is to rise workers
awareness of the need of performing their daily work according to the procedures
established by the safety and health regulations and recommendations.
The method of transferring these results will be:

A detailed study of the characteristics of the animations developed as part of the NAPO
programme.

Definition of the specific objectives of the new animations, based on those of the original
project as well as on the results of the research performed in the first phase of the
project.

Creation of a new “character” – typical height works within construction– who will
appear with other characters across all situations throughout the training tool.

Development of the script for each of the animated sections based on the objectives
assigned to each one.

Technical development of the 3D animations.

Testing in the construction industry the adaptability and communicational success of the
3D animations produced.

Development of the final versions of animations, taking into account the results of the
testing.
D. Products and results.
The main results of the project will be as following:



A compilation of European and Country-specific regulations relative to safety at height
work prevention in construction sector. A report related to height works in construction
which will include:
 the situations with highest risk of accident or injury and professional illness
The current situation of the companies in respect of their use of individual and collective
safety equipment. A multimedia training tool for training and raising workers awareness
of the importance of risk prevention. This tool will include 10-12 sketches of 90 seconds
each.
A website for the project and its products.