Too many injuries are happening on construction sites due to poor supervision.

The director of WorkSafe’s Construction and Utilities Program, Chris Webb, said, “Whether you’re a principal contractor, site supervisor, contractor or tradesperson, everyone has a role to play in site safety.

“All parties must understand their safety responsibilities and those of others involved in a construction project,“ he said. For supervisors, maintaining site safety is non-negotiable. If there’s an issue, everyone must be able to position to speak up before something bad happens.

The spotlight on site supervision is on now with WorkSafe inspectors visiting construction sites, as part of the ongoing ‘Back to Basics’ campaign. A construction worker who was seriously injured after a fall at a domestic construction site has died in hospital after being taken off life support. “This fatality is the eleventh workplace fatality for Victoria for 2010, and the sixth Victorian worker to die after a fall from height since the start of 2009,” WorkSafe Victoria’s Construction and Utilities Director Chris Webb said.

“Even if the work is only going to take five minutes, you need to have some means of protecting yourself. Given the availability of cheap, fit-for-purpose, work platforms, there’s no excuse for cutting corners and using make-shift alternatives.

“People think they’re going to save themselves time by just getting in there and finishing the job. It goes without saying that getting the job done isn’t as important as protecting yourself and your workers from serious injury or death,” Mr Webb said.