Chapter 8: Health and safety in geotechnical engineering

Construction is a hazardous occupation, with 30 workers killed in work-related accidents in Great Britain in 2021/22. This is in comparison with the average number of 36 fatalities for 2017/18–2021/22. In addition, there were 59 000 non-fatal work-related injuries each year averaged over the three-year period 2019/20–2021/22. There were an estimated 78 000 work-related ill-health cases (new or long-standing), estimated as the annual average for 2019/20–2021/22. It is important to note that the ill-health cases are estimated as there could be many more cases which were not reported. Safety is everyone's responsibility, including clients, designers, contractors and general workers, and everyone must work towards reducing the human cost of our profession. Every construction project is unique, with a particular combination of clients, customers, end-users, contractors, subcontractors, processes, materials, hazards and risks. Maintaining safety is a primary focus of any site; there are legal obligations to be met by all directly involved in any project and all associated with it. Moreover, there is a moral and ethical obligation to ensure that no one is harmed by our site activities. It is the responsibility of all to identify risks, eliminate them where possible and to mitigate against the residual risk. Geotechnical engineering has its own specific hazards and risks. Safety on every project must be planned, managed, continuously monitored and improved by competent personnel as part of the ‘way we work’ every day. Responsibility for safety cannot be delegated.