Yes, it should be. Provided we conform to all the EU safety regulations. (Damn - I was going to be sooooo good as well... )
Bit of a silly question, you don't specify whether we are assessing the risk before or after controls are applied. It is an inherently high risk environment, with the appropriate controls applied it should be low risk (per DA). But still more risky than an office job. How do you define "safe"?
Of course it is, provided common sense is used. Trouble is, common sense isn't that common, which is what contributes largely to the majority of injuries sustained in the Construction Industry.
We lead, they follow. Sorry mate but that's just the way it is. http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/european/
The construction industry is less safe than many others with the exception of agriculture. In factories a risk assessment can be performed on all of the processes and the environment, it will be good for a long time because the factory floor will not change during that production run. In comparison, a building site is a dynamic environment, constantly changing as the project grows towards completion. Meteorological issues must also be factored in. This constantly changing environment requires a constantly up dated risk assessment, while this is possible and does happen, step changes in the risk assessment may miss out the continuous and smoothly changing reality of risk. This is where the uncontrolled hazards lie. On the plus side, I worked in construction as an Electrician from 1968 to 1976, I still have all of my fingers and toes, both eyes and no scars, it did make me a little deaf.