The figures are highlighted in the NASC’s 2013 Safety Report which documents scaffolding safety statistics covering 14,098 operatives.

There was one fatality in 2012 – the first since 2004 – while slips, trips and falls were responsible for 34% of all accidents and injuries.

Scaffolders are still the most at risk (52% of accidents), followed by labourers (25%), trainees (10%), advanced scaffolders (8%), supervisors (3%), drivers (3%), and managers (0%).

The 21-30 age group is most at risk with more reported incidents than any other age range.

Rob Lynch, NASC President said: “The NASC has one dominating and overriding purpose – to improve the safety of scaffolding.

“By this we mean the safety of those erecting and dismantling, those working on the scaffold and those people who may be impacted by the scaffold.

“The NASC’s annual safety report is just one step in the right direction. By recording and sharing the problems we have had, we can focus our efforts on those areas needing most improvement.

“The NASC is proud of the part it has played in raising the bar for safe scaffolding. The expectations are incomparably higher now than they were at the millennium; just consider how far we have come and the vast volume of guidance and advice issued.”

Adrian Rooney, Chairman of the NASC Health and Safety Committee, said: “We have, yet again, seen a fall in overall figures for accidents/incidents, despite an increase in the number of operatives.

“But most heartening is the correlation between member figures and those for our industry as a whole – which shows that NASC members continue to outperform the industry.”

To download a copy of the full report click here