New research conducted amongst learning and development (L&D) professionals in Australia’s high-risk industries, including construction, manufacturing, utilities, and transport, reveals a clear link between annual industry fatality rates and the training available to employees.
The construction sector has the second-highest fatality rate of the high-risk industries that were studied and is amongst the worst performing when it comes to both the quantity and quality of training provided, according to a new report by Cloud Assess.
The report shows that the industries with the highest number of fatalities invest significantly less in training than those with lower fatality rates. For example, the construction industry invests the equivalent of just 6 per cent of its total wage spend into training per year. Transport, which is statistically the most dangerous sector, spends even less, at just 5 per cent. By contrast, the utility sector, which is the safest of the industries investigated by annual fatalities, invests the most; 7 per cent of wage spend.
As well as investing less, industries with higher fatality numbers also offer less training per employee, per year than safer industries, on average. Just 52 per cent of employees in the construction industry go through training every single year, compared with 65 per cent of utilities employees.
In addition, the research reveals a link between the measurement of training and safety, with industries with lower fatality rates most likely to measure skills competency using meaningful metrics. For example, utility firms are twice as likely to measure the success of training based on genuine behaviour changes than those in construction.
Rob Bright, Founder of Cloud Assess, comments: “Whilst attitudes towards workplace safety have begun to shift in recent years, employees across Australia continue to lose their lives at work every single year due to a lack of training designed to build competency and improve safety. Last year alone, 24 construction workers died whilst doing their job.
“This doesn’t have to be the case. Our research shows that lives could be saved by providing all those working in high-risk roles with adequate training. These insights, coupled with recent high-profile court cases which have held executives accountable for failing to protect their staff, signal a new precedent. The bare minimum is no longer enough when it comes to instilling essential skills in employees. Executives must take accountability for the safety of their employees and this means training for safety, not for audits.
“It’s encouraging to see that those firms which are prioritising consistent, high-quality training for all employees are succeeding in reducing the number of preventable incidents amongst their staff. We hope that these new insights will prompt all businesses to reassess their approach to training to better protect their workforce.”
Read the full report: Fatal Negligence: Unveiling the Deadly Consequences of Inadequate Employee Training.