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Exercises and demonstrations on thousands of construction sites across Poland

News date: May 18, 2015
Exercises and demonstrations on thousands of construction sites across Poland

The second edition of Safety Week will be celebrated at thousands of construction sites across Poland from 18th to 24th May. It is the largest undertaking related to occupational safety on the Polish market. The catchphrase of this year’s initiative is: “Safety - a common issue”. The event is being organized by the Agreement for Safety in the Construction Industry - an informal association of leading general contracting companies operating on the Polish market, established in 2010, whose fundamental goal is to eliminate fatal accidents on Polish construction sites. Currently, the Agreement unites 10 building companies: Bilfinger Infrastructure, Budimex, Erbud, Hochtief Polska, Mostostal Warszawa, Mota-Engil Central Europe, Polimex Mostostal, Skanska, Unibep and Warbud.
The activities of the Agreement focus not only on the signatories, who employ over 20,000 people and carry out construction contracts across Poland, but also on a numerous group of subcontractors, constituting up to 70 per cent of the labour executing a given project.
Safety Week is a campaign promoting work safety addressed to all employees working on construction sites operated by the signatories as well as subcontractors. This is already is the second edition of this event. Last year’s Safety Week turned out a success, mainly thanks to the ideas of the organizers and the commitment of participants. About 40,000 members of the signatories’ and subcontractors’ workforces took part in the activities held at the signatories’ construction sites. Each of the companies carried out activities taken from the jointly created “Book of Ideas”. These included presentations of personal protective equipment, height and water rescue operations, drills with the use of extinguishers, evacuation from construction sites, electric tools operation workshops, trainings and many other events. Similar initiatives will be undertaken this year as well. These exemplary activities are not all that Safety Week offers. Additional information and materials that may be used to promote safety can be found on the Agreement’s website www.porozumieniedlabezpieczenstwa.pl.
Safety Week is just one of many joint projects of the member companies. The major projects already carried out are: a common template of the Instructions for the Safe Execution of Works, standards that have been helpful in the development of the Instructions, uniform OHS requirements for subcontractors in all companies, periodical training and eye protection requirements.
The support of organizations related to the building sector that participate in the Agreement’s activities is an important factor in the improvement of occupational safety in this industry. Such organizations include: the Chief Labour Inspector, the National Labour Inspectorate, the Polish Association of Building Engineers and Technicians, the “Budowlani” Trade Union, the Polish Association of Construction Industry Employers, the Secretariat of Building and Timber Industries of the Independent and Self-Governed Trade Union “Solidarność”, the Polish Chamber of Civil Engineers, and since 2014, the Social Insurance Institution and the National Association of Employees of OHS Service.
Safety Week, organized by the signatories, plays a significant part in the promotion of safe work practices in the building industry. We strongly encourage all who greatly value workers’ life and well-being to undertake these kinds of initiatives.