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IMPROVING

CONSTRUCTION

SAFETY

IN 2023

ndia's infrastructure and construction sectors are crucial to India's
economic ecosystem. With the development of world-class
Ifacilities like roads, waterways, railways, airports, ports, and
residences, offices, retail, hotels and leisure parks across the country,
the public and private sectors are playing a crucial role in India's
growth story. India is poised to become the world's third-largest
construction market with the sector expected to reach $1.4 Tn by
2025. The construction sector is one of India's biggest job providers.
However, it is also known to be among the most hazardous sectors.
The number of fatalities reported per day is very high. A report by
researchers at the National Institute of Technology, Surat, in 2016,
estimated that the construction industry accounts for around a quarter
of all workplace accident fatalities in India. The Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT), Delhi, in a study in 2019, found that falls,
electrocutions, and collapsing walls and scaffolding at construction
sites are the major causes of work-related deaths in the construction
industry.

In the absence of proper safety standards, protocols, and practices in
most of the medium and small construction companies, the staggering
numbers are not surprising. With proper safety measures in place, and
the top management of these companies giving equal importance to
health and safety of the workmen, as they do for the progress of work,
these deaths can be prevented. India could learn valuable lessons
from developed countries, where fatalities are significantly lower and
where the health and safety record of the construction industry has
significantly improved in recent years due to their matured health and
safety management system. In the UK, for example, employers are
legally bound to assess the risks to their workers' health and safety. If
the risks are significant then the employer must take steps to remove
or reduce them to a reasonably practical level. The regulations also
cover the management of risks to workers' health, safety, and welfare
during construction work.