A targeted campaign across residential building sites found safety inspectors were more likely to issue improvement notices to sites in Taylor, in Canberra's north.

A 43-year-old man was killed near a construction site in the suburb on Wednesday, about five kilometres north-west of the Gungahlin town centre.

The man, who worked for a local civil excavation company, was crushed to death by a heavy vehicle near a construction site on Gordon Ford Way, Taylor on Wednesday morning.

Work Health and Safety Commissioner Jacqueline Agius on Thursday said the death was "distressing".

"Our thoughts are very much with the loved ones of the worker and his colleagues. This was a terrible and distressing incident," Ms Agius said.

In 2020-21, WorkSafe ACT inspectors conducted 14 "saturation campaigns" at greenfield and brownfield development sites in the territory, part of Operation Safe Prospect.

The commissioner's annual report said 18 infringement notices were issued as part of the campaign, along with 241 improvement notices and 88 prohibition notices.

Inspections in Denman Prospect made up 41 per cent of the operation's visits, and each visit attracted an average of 2.05 notices.

However, while inspections in Taylor made up 15 per cent of total site visits, each visit on average attracted 2.15 notices, the highest of any area.

Up to half of all prohibition notices and 62 per cent of infringement issued under the operation were for sites where the risk of falling from heights was not appropriately managed.

The commissioner's report pointed to data from Safe Work Australia which showed the average incidence rate for serious workers' compensation claims in the construction industry fell by 2 per cent between 2013-14 and 2017-18, but rose 9 per cent in the ACT in the same period.

"A mixture of information provision, compliance and enforcement are critical to changing the current safety profile of Construction and the rate of serious claims in the territory," the commissioner's report said.

"[The] construction industry continues to fail itself in being able to provide safe working environments for its workers."

The commissioner's report said a strategic planning summit in July 2020, which included construction industry stakeholders from employers and unions, developed plans to improve the industry's safety record.

"Participants at this summit acknowledged that a stronger culture of safety in the territory would only be achieved if a collaborative approach was adopted," the report said.

The chief executive of the Master Builders Association of the ACT, Michael Hopkins, said it was pleasing the WorkSafe annual report highlighted the strong level of engagement between it at his association.

"ACT workplace injury data released by the ACT government shows a trend decline in lost time injuries in the construction industry," Mr Hopkins said.

"This can be attributed to the strong enforcement activity by WorkSafe and collaborative measures introduced by industry associations, builders and developers such as the MBA's residential safety campaign."

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Mr Hopkins said the Master Builders Association wanted to see a more timely release of incident reports and audit data by WorkSafe, especially after serious injuries, so improvements could be made quickly by all stakeholders.

"It is vital that WorkSafe ensures its compliance activities are balanced between developers, builders, subcontractors and individual workers, because on a construction site safety is everyone's responsibility," he said.

Operation Safe Prospect formed a key part of the response to the 2020 summit.

"Industry stakeholders continue to actively collaborate and partner with WorkSafe ACT to achieve improved outcomes in residential construction," the report said.

In 2020-21, the Office of the Work Safety Commissioner made 2510 workplace inspections, with close to half of those in the construction sector.

Inspectors issued $285,984 in fines in the 12-month period and 96 infringements.

There were 1840 improvement notices, 459 prohibition notices and four enforceable undertakings in the year, along with one successful prosecution.

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