A year before they even take place, Great Britain has triumphed at the Olympic Stadium. The health and safety record of the London 2012 Olympics construction project has been outstanding but the scale of the achievement may never be seen again, according to a senior HSE inspector.
Principal inspector of construction for London, Mike Williams, suggested that given the recent cuts to the regulator’s budget and the consequent impact on how it carries out its proactive work, the success of the 2012 project was, perhaps, “a one-off”.

Speaking at a health and safety forum held at the Olympics site in east London last week, Mr Williams described the level of health and safety achievement on the site as “fantastic”. He also explained that the regulator’s approach to the project was to get involved early, checking that all the arrangements are there and looking to others in the chain to see what they plan to do. Overall, he said, this approach was “constructive” and, while there were lessons to be learnt, and some minor incidents did occur, the statistics couldn’t have been better.

The comments were made as the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) announced that the Park and Village workforce had achieved 3 million hours worked without a single reportable injury. Despite being the largest construction site in Europe, with more than 12,000 workers, the reportable accident rate on the Olympic Park is around a third of the construction-industry average and below the national average for all workplaces.

Lawrence Waterman, the ODA’s head of health and safety said, “Health and safety has been our number-one priority from the clean-up of the Olympic Park through to the completion of the ‘big build’. We are not complacent and, as we approach the finish line, we will continue to work with our contractors and workforce to set new standards of health and safety in construction.”