Every year, approximately 2.3 million people die in workplace-related accidents, and there is a pressing need to turn the tide on these preventable deaths by address these safety issues, worker behaviour, and reporting.

Future workplace injuries can be predicted with accuracy rates as high as 80-97% as indicated by a recent study conducted by Carnegie Mellon University. Based on extensive data and applying powerful modelling tools sets construction companies mainly could predict and prevent workplace accidents, resulting in a stronger safety culture and workplace productivity as well as monetary savings.

Overview

To unlock trends and patterns, predictive analytics relies on machine learning using advanced techniques such as decision trees, support vector machines, and neural networks.

Consistently, construction companies are collecting more and more workplace safety data in the form of safety inspections, analyzes, audits and so on. Nonetheless, this level is posed with a danger that the returning data will be so general as to be unusable at regional or site-specific levels.

Current options

In the meantime, what are the alternatives to predicting the future? Over the past number of decades, the construction industry and the health and safety industry has built an excellent best practice models with the aid of modern technology into their workplaces, and that work continues today. Attending health and safety briefings along with, more than likely, site-specific training is made compulsory to anybody working in any high-risk industry.

Best solution

To combating workplace dangers, these essential elements have a considerable impact on highlighting hazards, staff training in hazard prevention and protocols and workplace accidents. However, they can be made to be more consistent with online rather than face-to-face versions of same as they are time-consuming to implement.

The best starting place for these online inductions and online orientations is by tackling what is called the ‘Fatal Four’ that account for about 57% of all construction sites deaths. These are:

• Falls 36%
• Caught between objects 2%
• Electrocutions 9%
• Struck by objects 10%

To highlight and institute preventative practices, these are relatively straightforward, and they will reap the rewards regarding saving lives which is, ultimately, the goal of all these programs.

Conclusion

The best way to forestall this kind of incidents is to use predictive health and safety technology to forecast possible occurrences while also to use online training (inductions) to reduce this number significantly.

Beakon offers incident, injury, and safety management software to help combat issues like this. If your company is not currently using software to manage these key aspects of your business, you should start today. Our free trial can help you dip your toes into using software to stay ahead and keep your employees safe.