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If you follow the Able Skills blog, then you know about the horrific accidents that occur in the real world! From Grenfell Tower to electrical fires across the country, electrical incidents are certainly very real and is an area the industry has been trying to cut down for quite some time.
Whether you're currently undergoing any electrical courses or electrician training, or even work as an existing electrician out on site, you know first hand about the dangers of working within electrics... But the industry has now received some positive news which tells us that industry has officially shown a reduction in incidents!
What Do The Stats Say?
The JIB (Joint Industry Board) have collected data on behalf of the electrotechnical trade body ECA and Unite the Union. Such stats tell us that the rate of RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) fell to 164/100,000 in 2018!
Despite the number of reported incidents in the previous year, which came to 52/1000,000, no fatalities were reported in 2018. Now this gives us absolute job here at Able Skills as health and safety is at the core of everything we teach. Being the UK's number 1 electrical training provider for quite some time, we're over the moon to see the number of accidents has dramatically decreased. Why? Because the chances are that the electricians out there who are making such positive changes, there's a very high chances that they may have just received their Electrician Training from us!
Naturally, a few industry leaders had their say on the matter...
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Steve Brawley, chief executive of the JIB, said:
“It’s very encouraging to report that the rate of reportable accidents in our industry continues to fall, and it means that the rate of these accidents is now, remarkably, only slightly more than 10% of what it was in 2001, the year we started to collect data for the industry’s highly successful ‘ZAP safety initiative.”
Words giving a sense of achievement from the JIB's Chief Executive. It's good to see there is a real effort to reduce industry accidents as we certainly stress the topic on our various Electrician Courses. For those who may not know, Scotland are even on the verge of introducing a professional title for Electricians which will help eliminate the number of rogue traders on the scene, much like the Gas Safe Register does for Gas Engineers. Maybe once it is given the official go ahead we could see such a thing being applied to the rest of the UK!
Here's What Paul Reeve, ECA director of CSR Had To Say Too..
“Since the turn of the millennium, there has been near-continuous improvement in the accident rate reported by participating companies. The 2018 figures mean that the accident rate has fallen nearly 90% since 2001, which is a great achievement.
And Finally, Rob Miguel (Unite National Health and Safety Advisor) Said:
“While these new figures are very welcome and show huge improvements in safety in the electrical contracting industry over the last two decades, JIB is also working to improve occupational health.
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“The JIB occupational health scheme provides operatives employed by a JIB member company with the opportunity to receive a fully funded occupational health assessment every three years. This facility, funded through the JIB Benefits Scheme, will deliver various benefits including improved compliance with health and safety law, meeting client and main contractor requirements, and helping people to identify and remedy health issues at an earlier stage. This assessment looks for the effects on health that might be caused by situations people are exposed to at work, and highlights action which employers will need to take to protect the health and wellbeing of their employees and our members.”
If you're someone who is considering working towards your JIB Gold Card, then you will certainly know of all health and safety requirements made by the industry. We believe prevention is better than cure and that's why we emphasise such area across our Electrical Courses and Electrician Training!