A safety first

Contractors at work in the Energy Centre

Construction contractors working for Imperial Projects Delivery achieved an unprecedented safety record in 2023.

There were no reportable incidents in a total 716,875 working hours on our projects. The zero figure is a credit to our contractors and betters the 2023 construction industry average of 2.6%.

The Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) is the standard way to measure accident rate in Health & Safety and focuses on reportable incidents (RIDDOR). It’s a percentage per 100,000 employees.

While we have always achieved low incidents, the zero figure is a real credit to all those who work for us. In 2023 this was on some 33 projects, including The School of Public Health, White City Campus, and the major de-steaming project on South Kensington Campus among others, 14 of them now completed.

That is not to say there have not been some minor incidents which are not reportable. Our rate with these is exceptionally low, just single figures monthly, and generally of the type where the injured person can carry on with work immediately after receiving first aid treatment.

When it comes to what are known as ‘near misses’ we have an active reporting culture and stress to our contractors the importance of this. Recording and investigating incidents - ‘near misses’ - that could have led to injuries or damage to property but didn’t help to prevent more serious and / or reportable incidents.

We thank all our contractors for their cooperation, collaboration and abiding by our Construction Code of Practice to achieve this outstanding record.