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What is Happening to Health and Safety in Construction?

Whilst the performance of the construction industry has improved over the last decade, it continues to kill one person every four days in Great Britain. And for every fatality there are 67 major injuries and a further 125 workers who suffer lesser injuries which still need to be reported the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) by their employer. But why should you care?

Research shows that two of three of these fatalities are caused by decisions that were made before the works started on site and the largest proportion of these decisions are made by construction clients – that could be you.

So what is construction? In 1994 the HSE gave us a definition of construction that is incredibly broad, so broad in fact that we still find professionals in the industry that have not got to grips with the breadth and scale of the works that are covered by the definition. Unless you occupy fully serviced offices, you will at some time undertake construction work - unless you never paint or maintain you premises, or improve or extend your IT cabling.

Due to its poor health and safety performance, the industry has decided to revise the principal piece of legislation that underpins its health and safety, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 (CDM). The revised regulations will come in to force in early April 2007.

Many of you will be concerned that your use of the construction industry might harm construction workers and so follow the guidance given in CDM to minimise the impact of your project on worker wellbeing. Most of you will be working to strict financial controls and will be concerned about the cost of implementing regulations. However, DTI research has shown that where CDM and therefore construction project's health and safety are properly addressed, projects are 6 per cent cheaper and accident rates 61 per cent lower!

New CDM apply to all projects. So forget the things that you may have heard about project size etc. – if you are having construction work done, given the broad definition of construction, you will have obligations under CDM 2007. So what do you need to do?

When you feel a construction project coming on, as Sir John Eagan described it, the first thing that you should do is speak to a Co-ordinator. If you get the right one, they will then guide you as you discharge your duties. Do not be surprised if they question whether you actually need a construction project to meet your business development objectives.

To find a good Co-ordinator:

• Ask your peers in other organisations who have undertaken similar projects who they used and how they performed;
• Seek a recommendation from the designers that you are thinking of using;
• Speak to one of the professional bodies e.g.:
  • Association for Project Safety
  • Institution of Occupational Safety and Health
  • British Safety Industry Federation
  • Independent Safety Consultants Association.

The Co-ordinator will help you to decide if your project is notifiable to the HSE and therefore if you need to appoint a Co-ordinator and how to assess the competence of any designers before you appoint them.

The CDM Regulations have been partly rewritten to make them more enforceable. Whatever the size of your project your obligations under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 will be more onerous than under the existing ones. You need to take positive action.

Biography

Philip Baker is the CEO of BPS Solutions Ltd, a firm that provides co-ordination/planning supervision services and general health and safety advice. Mr Baker has more than 25 years' experience in the construction industry. He can be contacted on 078 3141 4464. www.bpssolutions.co.uk

 

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