​A Scaffolder witnessed on a scaffold without a harness has been handed a suspended sentence and community service.  The court heard that photographs were taken of the Scaffolder standing on top of a scaffold in Manchester, with no edge protection and no harness attached to the scaffold or the building.

A company in control of a steel plant was fined £930,000 after five plant workers were exposed to toxic and flammable vapour. The judge stated that an estimated £25,000 spent on repairs, would have avoided the fine.
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The company repeatedly failed to act on the recommendations of an inspection which identified the release of a chemical as an intolerable risk. 

​Following a recent fatal accident investigation, the HSE is strongly advising all employers and users of ladders to ensure that they:

• Carry out pre-use checks;
• Use them in accordance with instructions;
• Check the locking mechanism.

Failure to do so could result in a serious accident. 

Most of us in our industry see driving “as part of the job”. That is the nature of construction and it is unlikely to change. We are a transient workforce moving from site-to-site and area-to-area frequently with few of us drivers considering other means of “getting the job done”, such as remote communication e.g. conference calls instead of long journeys to meetings and the use of public transport usually because of reliability and time constraints, etc.
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There has been a lot of publicity relating to the introduction of stricter punishments for drivers committing the most serious of offences, this came into effect on April 24 and includes steeper fines for speeding.

Most employers at this point think that this is the driver’s problem, to pay all fines, etc., but many may be missing the bigger picture. Most employers think that the Road Traffic Act and Highways Act are the only laws that apply, when it comes to driving for work however, you may also have to consider health & safety law.

​As you may be aware we are a NVQ assessment centre. We have been progressing with NVQ’s for three months now and our candidates to date have made great progress.
 
We have certification to deliver the following NVQ’s:

• Level 2 (Various) – Blue, Trade Skills Card
  (Please see website for details of which trade qualifications we can provide)
• Level 3 (Occupational Work Supervision)  –  Gold Supervisors Card
• Level 6 (Construction Site Management) – Black Managers Card 

 
A full list of the NVQ’s we offer can be found using the link below, if you require any further information please give us a call.

A Site Supervisor has been jailed for safety failures which resulted in the death of a member of the public after stacked windows fell over and killed her. The member of the public was walking past the site in London when she was hit by three large window frames. The frames had been delivered to site and were left leaning, unsecured against a wall. 

​Clients could face a tax of 0.5% of construction costs if they choose contractors who don’t invest in research and development or skills training. This proposal is currently being considered by the government. A review of the Construction Labour Model warned that the industry faces “inexorable decline” unless major changes are made. The review highlighted constructions “dysfunctional training model”, lack of innovation and collaboration and “non-existent research and development culture.

A man from Luton was jailed for 18 months and recommended for deportation for illegally working in the UK and cheating to obtain skill cards in the construction industry.

The man paid someone to sit the required health and safety tests in order to obtain CSCS cards and CPCS cards. 

Leading civil engineering contractors like Laing O’Rourke, Morgan Sindall and Carillion have slashed their carbon emissions by half over the last six years due to changing working practices, using fuel-efficient vehicles and plant to create greener business operations.