Construction High Risk Strategy

The Construction High Risk Strategy (HRS) is designed to reduce the construction industry’s serious injury rate through risk-reduction tactics focused on health and safety responsibilities specific to planning and supervision and high-risk work activities.

The statistical data shows that although the injury rate has been slowly decreasing over the past six years, the serious injury rate has remained steady. This has prompted a layered approach to identifying and correcting high risk work conditions and practices. The strategy looks at task or environmentally created hazards, and at responsibilities, planning, and the effectiveness of supervision.

Our goals
Our focus

What employers can do

Our goals

Prevent unsafe acts or conditions that cause workplace serious injuries and fatalities by addressing identified shortcomings in planning and supervision and by ensuring a proper selection of tools, equipment, or processes.

Our focus

The 2018-2020 Construction HRS is focused on three areas:

Health and safety responsibilities — Planning and supervision
Officers will conduct workplace inspections focused on health and safety planning and supervision. They will engage prime contractors, owners, employer, supervisors, and workers to promote effective supervision and planning to prevent the development of unsafe working conditions and practices.
Tools, equipment, and processes — Choosing the safest option
The target risks and injury areas for this initiative will focus on the selection of the right tool, equipment, or process to reduce workplace incidents resulting in serious injury and the development of high risk violations at workplaces. Shorter term inspectional campaigns, designed to be interchangeable and flexible, will also be conducted by officers.
Partnerships and collaborations
This focus will include working with internal and external stakeholders, like the BC Construction Safety Alliance (BCCSA), to encourage and foster communication to proactively respond to evolving industry challenges and emerging risks.

What employers can do

The following resources will help you better understand and address some of the health and safety issues we’ll be focusing on with our inspections and initiatives. For more resources and information, please visit our Construction pages.