Safety professionals praise Olympic safety

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health have praised the safety record of the 2012 London Olympics. IOSH executive director of policy Luise Vassie said "The planning and hosting of the London Olympic Games has given us a twofold health and safety legacy. First, we hope it leaves a lasting impression on our construction sector, where employers use some of the same techniques in their own projects. We want the Olympic Delivery Authority's (ODA) health and safety innovations and ways of managing contractor relationships to mean fewer workers die in the course of their day jobs. Secondly, these Games should act as a blueprint for how to organise safe, large-scale events. Not just in the way that it developed crowd safety and transport plans to minimise the negative effect on London, but in the way that volunteers were managed. Everything knitted together so well to make this a triumphant success." Hugh Robertson, the TUC's Head of health and safety also said, in a podcast for IOSH, that the games had been a success but said that this was mainly because the joint approach involving the ODA, contractors and unions had led to more cooperation. He was however concerned that the lessons of the games, including the work done on occupational health, would be lost unless the government tightened the contracting rules for public sector projects. Before the start of the Games, IOSH praised the build project where accidents were reduced by as much as two thirds on the construction industry average, with zero fatalities and a potential saving of £7m through its occupational hygiene programme alone.

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