Design, not welding, top in public’s safety concerns

The Canadian Welding Bureau commissioned a survey that asked over 1,000 people questions related to the safety of products and infrastructure.

The CWB regulates welding professionals, ensuring that welding work on construction sites and elsewhere is done to CSA standards and overseen by certified and accredited welders.

The survey showed that people place design as the most important factor in keeping bridges and other key infrastructure such as pipelines safe. Of the people questioned, 39% ranked design as most important, 26% ranked quality of materials second important, and 21% ranked regular inspections third in importance.

But the need for certified tradespeople such as the welders who work on building infrastructure (such as on connecting steel girders and columns, etc.) ranked last, with only 13%.

Craig Martin, vice president of public safety at CWB, explained why workmanship is important in safety construction: “Most people assume that if a bridge or building is designed to meet the standards it is being built to those standards,” continues Martin. “Unfortunately that is not always the case. Industry needs to continue to enforce those standards from design through to building and maintenance…. Welding is all around us, so being able to count on an industry standard should be important to all Canadians,” said Martin.

The survey, which was carried out in November 2012, found that more than half of Canadians consider products made in Canada to be safer than those made elsewhere (44%).