Ongoing safety incidents at children’s hospital construction site

Concerns were raised in July regarding the continuing high number of health and safety incidents at the construction site of the new national children’s hospital (NCH), the Medical Independent (MI) can report.

A “safety leadership team” was established earlier this year to reduce these incidents.

At its July meeting, the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) requested that its concern be noted regarding the “high number of health and safety incidents occurring on site”.

In June, the NPHDB also discussed the “number of incidents occurring”.

“The board discussed health and safety data for May 2019. It was indicated that a safety leadership team had been established to reduce the number of incidents occurring,” according to minutes of the board’s meeting in June.

“It was confirmed that [construction firm] BAM had a trained labour force in place and that enhanced supports to BAM’s supervision and management were expected to reduce the number of incidents.”

In February, national media reports referenced concerns expressed by the NPHDB about the issue.

MI asked the NPHDB for the number of health and safety incidents in the first half of 2019, but this information was not provided. An NPHDB spokesperson said there had been no reported safety incidents on site since June.

“The safety of staff working on the construction site of the new children’s hospital is a primary concern for all those involved in this project,” they commented.

“Safety meetings and presentations with all members of the project team, including contractors and foremen, have been taking place over the last number of months along with on-site safety walks.”