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The construction sector in New Zealand is large and complex, with more than 90,000 businesses, ranging from large multi-nationals to sole traders. Small to medium enterprises (SME’S) are those with under 20 employees, constitute approximately 75,000.
Many of the SME’s are small ‘man in a van’ type operations. These businesses often have limited resources, and staff who wear multiple hats, such as owners managing health and safety as well as all other business operations. They are most often specialist trade organisations, such as plumbers, scaffolders, roofers, residential builders, electricians etc.
SME’s account for 40% of the construction workforce (Stats NZ). However, SME’s account for $86 million of the $138 million in ACC claims for the construction (2019 data), which is 64% of the ACC construction payout. This means that SME’s account for 160% more in ACC claims than would normally be expected, and by extrapolation are 160% more likely to have an accident or injury which would require an ACC payout.
SME’s occupy a space with a large number of tension points with a variety of stakeholders in the industry. SME’s are often sub-contractors, or even sub-sub-sub-contractors to a main contractor or another SME. They may also be contractors in their own right and subcontract out some of the work they undertake. SME’s on a site need to be able to successfully manage both site specific risks, and also those risks which their particular work brings to the site.
There are many potential areas of concern identified by Safety Charter members around the work carried out by SME’s. Foremost is the vertical nature of the contracting chain in New Zealand. Company A may successfully tender for subcontracting work and include all their own health and safety documentation as part of the procurement process. However, company B, C, D or E may turn up on site to carry out the work, with their documentation only passing one rung up the ladder.
There are also issues around hazard identification, risk perception, and risk tolerance. A 2021 study of 4,800 workers across 12 sub-trades concluded that construction workers were only able to identify 45% of the hazards they face during their working day. 35% are missed because of cognitive blind spots, and 20% because they are not reasonably identifiable before work starts. (Professional Safety Journal Dec 2021).
Risk perception and tolerance may also be different for SME’s. They typically spend less time on a given site, so are unaware of potential hazards. They also want to get their specific job done in a timely manner, and thus may have greater risk tolerance to complete the work quickly. SME’s are also disincentivised to report near misses or other hazards for fear of losing the existing or future work and income.
SME’s are typically good at identifying the hazards of their particular job, but not at identifying the unanticipated hazards of where they carry out their specialist work. Laying vinyl on the ground floor of an established building is very different from laying vinyl at height on a live site, where tools and equipment must be carried up a scaffold, and then work conducted with other trades occupying the same space.
The Safety Charter has started work on a project to better understand the SME health and safety dynamic. We are conducting one on one interviews at a range of sites, and our initial results can be found later in this newsletter.
The SME space represents the greatest opportunity for health and safety improvements and reduction in accidents and injuries within the construction industry in New Zealand. There are many and varied potential causes for the high incident rates within SME’s, and therefore any opportunity to understand the what, why, and how of these causes may lead to specific interventions to significantly raise the capability and performance within this group.
Paul Duggan, General Manager
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