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Posts with the 'Cdm' tag

Stop Press: Environment Agency Update

Please find below an extract from a letter received by a client site from the Environment Agency. It appears that a survey is being conducted to determine waste levels from construction sites with Site Waste Management Plans (SWMP) being used as the source of information. It is always possible that the Environment Agency will take further action if a plan is not compliant.

If you are already a Waste Plan Solutions Ltd client, then you have nothing to worry about - simply forward any similar correspondence to WPS Ltd and they will liaise with the Environment Agency on your behalf and ensure that the relevant plan is brought up to date prior to sending the copy to them.

For your information the following is a summary of the SWMP regulations and your Duty Of Care responsibilities:

If you have a SWMP that you would like checked, then simply contact info@wasteplansolutions.co.uk requesting a Free SWMP Audit - their consultants will be happy to assist you.

If, having read the above Regulation information, you believe you should be implementing the use of Site Waste Management Plans, then please contact sales@wasteplansolutions.co.uk and they will advise you on your requirements and also talk to you about our most cost effective solution for your company and circumstances.

For further information please contact Waste Plan Solutions Ltd, 01604 859961 or via email on info@wasteplansolutions.co.uk

January 31, 2012 | Permalink | Comment

Chinese Firm Erect 30 Storey Building in 15 Days

A Chinese firm, the Broad Group, has built a 30 storey building in just 30 days without injuries to workers. Astounding!

Their key to success was that all the key components were prefabricated off-site. The builders took just 46 hours to finish the main structural components and another 90 hours to finish the building enclosure.

To view the time-lapse video see The Construction Enquirer.

Source: The Construction Enquirer

January 10, 2012 | Permalink | Comment

Quality and Safety pays through expert supplier assessment

SGP Property and Facilities Management is saving more than £100,000 per year and improving quality and safety standards through outsourcing its supplier assessment.

The company, which last year managed more than £1 billion of property spend and £170 million of maintenance spend on behalf of its customers, partners with Altius Vendor Assessment (www.altiusva.com) to ensure contractors are fully assured. This minimises risk and liability for both SGP and its clients.

By contracting out this key service, SGP estimates that it is saving at least £100,000 per year on direct employees. The rigorous assessment procedures undertaken by Altius have also contributed to a £20,000 reduction in SGP's bill for professional indemnity and Employers' liability cover.

"While these cost and time savings are very welcome, the major benefit of using professional vendor assessment services is the peace of mind and protection it offers both us and our clients," said Peter Hall, Director of Risk Management for SGP and Deputy Chairman of the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management. "We are confident that every contractor we deal with has been through a transparent and robust assessment process, pertinent to the activities they may undertake, and that they are well equipped to provide the stringent, professional standards we require."

He continued: "Our accident rate has reduced since we have used the services of Altius, which speaks volumes for the value of robust supplier assessment. But it's not all about health and safety. Contractors are also assessed on their financial health, adequacy of insurance cover, and other competences, as required by individual clients. They can also choose to achieve elite vendor status by demonstrating excellence in areas such as customer service, quality management, environmental performance and corporate social responsibility."

The Altius service is free to client companies, with a small fee applied to contractors to cover the assessment process, and support in helping them gain compliance and to raise their performance. Membership offers contractors access to significant new business opportunities through Altius' client company network, including: Airbus, Arcadia Group, Punch Taverns, Wolseley, Selfridges, Superdrug, and other leading UK organisations.

In addition, the service also helps suppliers to ease the burden of tendering for work outside the Altius network, as they can share their online information to prove their credentials to other clients or assessment providers, often avoiding duplication in completing pre-qualification procedures twice. This is a two-way process as through its membership of Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP), Altius recognises other approved bodies' health and safety assessments.

The Altius Vendor Assessment system has recently won the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) Award for Innovation in Technology and Systems.

The BIFM judges recognised the Altius system's success in reducing the risk profile for the client while easing the burden on administration for contractors. They praised the high visibility of health and safety competence and financial health, together with the constructive feedback and support provided to suppliers to enable them to make improvements to meet stretching client requirements.

For further information contact Altius Vendor Assessment on 08445 616515, enquiries@altiusva.com, www.altiusva.com

December 16, 2011 | Permalink | Comment

Waste Plan Solutions wins Small Business of the Year Award

We are pleased to announce that one of our partners, Waste Plan Solutions Limited, has won the prestigious 'Small Business of the Year Award' from the East Midlands Centre for constructing the Built Environment (emcbe). Waste Plan Solutions Ltd works in environmental consultancy within the construction industry and specialises in writing Site Waste Management Plans.

The judges were looking for a company who could demonstrate a strong commitment to health and safety as well as improving management and innovation.
"We were bowled over by the enthusiasm, which shone through in Waste Plan Solutions application. This niche company helps larger organisations in specialist areas with a high level of knowledge and expertise. This company saw its future and linked its specialism to client savings so is very forward thinking" - Alan Coole, Lead Judge. Read more about the award.

The team at Ai Solutions would also like to extend our congratulations to Lara Ayris (Managing Director) and her team for a job well done.  If you would like to find out more regarding site waste management or Waste Plan Solutions then visit their web site www.wasteplansolutions.co.uk

November 2, 2011 | Permalink | Comment

Vendor Assesment: Altius

One of our new partners, Altius, has recently won the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) award for Innovation and Technology for their system Altius Vendor Assessment. They have been running for a number of years now and have a new and innovative approach to vendor assessment. At no cost to the Client the Altius Vendor Assessment system can provide all the vendor assessment needs along with direct requirements of the Client.

As for the vendors (Contractors, CDM-C's etc.) it gives them peace of mind knowing that they are assessed by competent professionals. Being part of the Altius Vendor Assessment system means the vendors are in the best place to get on the approved lists of as many clients as possible. Furthermore the Altius team of approved professionals provide feedback to help put vendors in the best possible light with potential clients.

For more on this story see BIFM website and Altius' Blog.

October 24, 2011 | Permalink | Comment

Toughest Construction Job In The World?

One of our customers sent us an interesting link to maybe the toughest construction job going at the moment.

Chinese workers have been tasked with building a 3ft-wide path made of wooden planks on the sheer cliff face of a mountain that is thousands of feet high.

The Shifou Mountain in Hunan Province, where they are building the pathway, stands vertical at 90 degrees without any slopes or alcoves.

We also saw this as a video news article - Construction cliff work 'not for the faint-hearted' - and were very surprised at how few safety measures are in place. In addition, this video does not show what they have in place for convenience and refreshment for the workers.

You wouldn't see this type of thing happening in the UK, or would you?

June 24, 2011 | Permalink | Comment

HSE: Open Forums on CDM Regulations 2007

The HSE are running 8 free, open forums across Great Britain to get a broad range of views from large audiences on the extent to which the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM 2007) have met HSE's aims for the regulations which came into force in April 2007.

Frontline has been commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to evaluate the impact of these regulations on the construction industry in Great Britain.

If you wish to register to attend one of these forums then you need to register using the online registration form..

Source: HSE

September 10, 2010 | Permalink | Comment

Paper - a Whymsical View

Watching the BBC News recently, I saw a family discussion about homework and how parents 'can no longer help their children' because they don't understand the teaching method now used for maths being taught to infants. A young girl, maybe a five year old, playing at a computer screen, stated whimsically that 'in the olden days, people used to work things out on paper'.

Well, I can resonate with a number of issues there! In the not-so-olden-days, only some 16 years ago, I well remember presenting the first version of ToolKit to the co-writer of the CDM regulations (known as the Condam Regs at that stage). The HSE policy maker was George Ventris; a bright chap. When he spotted my shiny and brand-new-for-the-occasion laptop, he said: 'I don't really understand the new technology. What you have to remember is to give the users a blank piece of paper and make them think.' Wise words indeed. The context was making risk assessments. George's point was that contractors in particular (in his experience) preferred marking check boxes on a list rather than having to think through from first principles the answer to each risk assessment. This way, they would save time and be able to get on with their other tasks in the shortest possible time.

I have said many times over the intervening years, that the current generation of senior managers are going to have a problem. When the college graduates reach their mid thirties and discover the power of IT and how that power can help them manage their working environment, there will be a real problem. They will have the potential to overtake the incumbent managers 'big time' and we are likely to lose a generation of managers because they will be seen to be unnecessary in the management chain.

Which is in fact what is going on. Umpteen layers of 'management' have been stripped from organisations large enough to sustain the shrinking. And construction related accidents are decreasing. Is that entirely because there is less construction in these recessionary times, or is it the younger managers with better IT skills pole vaulting over the 'old guard'? Are trees safer now than they were 15 years ago.

Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

April 7, 2010 | Permalink | Comment

Working together across London

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) defines Joined up Working as "the term to describe collaborative working across organisational boundaries to tackle shared issues&" and recognises that it is becoming increasingly common in the public sector where joint action and exchange of information is required to support the efficient conduct of public sector business.

The HSE, in their Health and Safety of Great Britain Strategy consultation document, are seeking to improve Health and Safety performance nationally. They are asking what Local Authorities can do differently to help them achieve their goals.

The work that Ai Solutions is doing in partnership with Transport for London and many of the London Boroughs on CDM and related matters is to look at linking and interfacing with their various different databases e.g. asset management, IS systems, and fault management systems, thus making a significant contribution to helping HSE and OGC meet their objectives.

CDM ToolKit is to be the switchboard for all of this information and this marks an important step forward towards achieving the aim of Joined up Working across the London Boroughs.

There are tremendous advantages in inter-linking management systems and databases. Done via a central “switchboard”, this will bring consistent methods of working across teams and accessibility of data across large and complex organisations. ToolKit has been designed and developed to fit that model.

As well as the opportunity to save money through more efficient access to information, paperless communications and economies of scale, other organisations who subscribe to this initiative will also be able to access data, and share their own data electronically - with relevant permissions. This would be invaluable, particularly when either authority intends to carry out works in proximity of the other's assets, be it a “shared” road junction, bridge, signal installation or other highway structure.

Although it is early days, the potential for extending such data accessibility across London, via a central hub, is enormous and offers great benefits in savings of time and costs and not the least, in improved safety performance, the driver behind HSE's current Strategy.

Joined up Working envisages that Transport for London, the London Boroughs, the utilities and their contractors and consultants would have web-based access to the vast amount of health and safety information on the management systems and databases held by each other.

So; the OGC wants it, as do TfL and HSE and inevitably it will happen but not without the support of the other stakeholders and in particular the London Boroughs. Our work in London has reached an important landmark on the journey to “Joined up Working” and continues at a gathering pace. Now is the time to talk to us.

If you would like more information on how you can be involved with this initiative please call or email Fred Robinson at Ai Solutions.

February 2, 2009 | Permalink | Comment

Cost Saving in Recessionary Times

There is no doubt that financially, we are all in for a rough time over the coming months. Expenditure will be questioned; income will be analysed. The state of the nation's health will be monitored as we go into 'intensive care'. Debate will abound; action will be scarce. Will we weather the storm? Will I have a job next month; sorry next week?

Now there is a positive side to this scenario which hopefully will be less grim than the picture painted here for most of us. This is a time to take stock of all those inefficient ways we carry on using because of the effort involved (and cost) of changing them. Is this the time to get rid of the baggage and paint a better future for ourselves?

A village newsletter hit my doorstep this week containing a letter from a Local Councillor. He was explaining how local government are particularly hard pressed with reduced income from their investment portfolios and government caps on the allowed rate of rise in council taxes. Having explored just about every other means of saving money, the Council are now talking to other Councils and other County Councils to see how they can join together with joined up working to save some money. Sound familiar?

Talking with a customer this week, we were exploring the cost saving of using our management software in the CDM environment. The customer had proved to himself that using our ToolKit™ software for completing and submitting F10 forms for approximately 3 notifiable projects per week is saving his organisation around £3,500 per year. Now that's an interesting starting point.

Rather more spectacular, though, is the fact that the same customer is saving at least £44,000 per year with our internet based product. The product is now used as the primary communication for all documents concerned with major projects between architects, contractors and themselves as clients. Here, the savings are all very tangible; everyone involved saves reams of paper (literally), printing costs including toner, mailing costs, and time. Major Project Health & Safety Files now take around 5 days to assemble; less than half the time they took using more conventional methods. We made a fairly 'rough' calculation of the cost savings by producing the HSF using our software. The savings are, frankly, staggering; they mean that you could possibly afford the best part of another CDM-C depending on where in the country you happen to be - assuming of course that you could find one. Now that is good news.

But there is more! As a result of using the management software, the organisation is now in total control of the CDM process. They know where their documentation is, where compliance is an issue, how many projects are at whatever stage they need to report on etc etc. Access to information is quick and easy for everyone who requires and is authorised to have it. There is no doubt that the return on investment from the joined up working approach taken here is very effective and efficient by whatever measure you care to throw at it.

We are steadfastly working to promote Joined Up Working across London with an initiative led by Fred Robinson as reported to you last month. And we are making progress. If you would like to take part please contact us.

February 1, 2009 | Permalink | Comment

Firm fined £25,000 after worker fell to death

RTAL Ltd of Purley, Surrey - which manufactures items such as handrails and security fencing - has been fined £25,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs after a man fell to his death because a protective guard rail had been removed.

Andrew Taylor, aged 29, died on 24 January 2003 when he fell eight metres from a platform whilst installing a kiln.

Managing director of the firm Terry Green was also handed a £2,500 fine and ordered to pay costs of £500, after charges were brought under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Health and Safety Executive Inspector Sandy Carmichael said: "This was a serious breach of obligation to both its own staff and visiting workers, indicative of failure by the company to appreciate the risks from such complex work. Andrew Taylor's tragic and wasteful death could and should have been avoided by straightforward safety precautions."

Source: South Yorkshire Star

October 23, 2007 | Permalink | Comment

Council fined over cherry picker accident

East Riding Council is facing a bill of more than £10,000 after pleading guilty to failing to ensure the safety of an employee at work.

A cherry picker fell on a council worker, 51 year old Elena Tradewell, with the force of a 28-stone hammer because of serious errors in the council's health and safety procedure. The machine was being used by two untrained workers in Princess Mary Promenade on the South Foreshore on September 19, 2005.

The foreshore workers, who were not employed for maintenance work, had borrowed the lift from workers at the Spa, who were similarly underqualified, to help them take down banners. They could have been trained to use the machinery at a cost of £100 each.

The cherry picker glanced off Mrs Tradewell's head, shoulder and back before collapsing on her foot, smashing two metatarsal bones.

The engineer's report into the accident noted four factors which contributed to the lift falling - a light wind, a slight slope on the ground, a missing outrigger leg and, most importantly, its operator turned a screw to level the machine in the wrong direction.

Mr and Mrs Tradewell are continuing to seek compensation from the council.

Speaking in court on the behalf of the Health and Safety Executive, prosecutor Christopher Chambers said that although the injuries had been serious the consequences might have been much worse, with a risk of fatal injury. There had been a number of systemic errors by the Council.

Tom Spencer, mitigating for the council, said: "This council has been at the forefront of bringing workplace accidents down and that reputation has been badly damaged by what happened two years ago.

"The internal investigation was made very rapidly. Conclusions were drawn, lessons were learned and the systems changed very, very quickly. There was a great deal of anguish among very senior officers in the council"

Source: Bridlington Free Press

October 18, 2007 | Permalink | Comment

Safety warning - fixed rail vertical fall arrest system

The HSE advises against using the HACA fixed rail vertical fall arrest system type 0529.7102 which has recently failed the BS test that represents the appropriate standard for this type of equipment. The device is typically used when climbing ladders or rungs attached to fixed structures.

Further information is in the HSE website, http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/fixedrail011007.htm

Source: HSE Website

October 17, 2007 | Permalink | Comment

Prison sentence expected for skylight manslaughter

A supervisor has been told that prison is inevitable when he appears for sentencing for manslaughter on 29 November.

Paul Alker, 34, died in June, after falling through a skylight at a Wrexham store. Steven Smith, 36, from Rhostyllen, near Wrexham, admitted manslaughter, intending to pervert the course of justice and health and safety breaches.

The charge stated that Smith failed to ensure Mr Alker had sufficient training, knowledge or experience to carry out work at dangerous heights, or to carry out roofing works. He also failed to ensure people working on the roof had safety harnesses.

Smith admitted a second charge of failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of Mr Alker and his colleague Aaron Pugh under the Health and Safety at Work Act. He also admitted a third charge of doing acts intending to pervert the course of justice - by installing safety harnesses after the accident and pretending they had been present.

Source: BBC

October 12, 2007 | Permalink | Comment

Health & Safety File for the 21st Century

(Not a lever-arch file in sight)

The promise of the paperless office has been making headlines for many years. The benefits of electronic storage have long been seen as a potential cost and time saving exercise, albeit not always easy to achieve.

Bradford Metropolitan District Council has had the dream of an electronic Health & Safety File since the HSE's original Construction (Design and Management) Regulations of 1994 came into being. Ai Solutions Ltd, suppliers of their ToolKit CDM software have worked with them to produce a Health & Safety file fit for the 21st century, integrating it with the Operations and Maintenance Manual and associated documents.

The key requirement of accessibility is delivered instantly by your normal internet browser to every user in any location. Property managers, designers, health and safety managers and internal and external contractors can achieve real benefit in planning and tracking their programmes and quickly finding essential information relating to ongoing health and safety management of every building and structure.

On top of that huge cost savings can be achieved in getting rid of mountains of lever arch files. In Bradford this ran to over a 100 linear metres of shelving and 100's of rolls of drawings.

The health & safety information, asbestos records and maintenance records of all of Bradford's many properties and buildings are available to anyone with permission to view. This information will always be up to date and will have an audit history. Maintenance contractors and designers will have the facility to download and update documents.

The Health & Safety File becomes a live and relevant tool of proactive management rather than a document prepared solely to meet legal requirements and measured by the number of pages in it and the layers of dust on top of it.

The Health & Safety File finally comes of Age.

4th September 2007

For more information, call 01525 850080 or www.aisolutions.co.uk

Source: Ai Solutions Ltd

September 4, 2007 | Permalink | Comment

CDM Early Day Motion

Conservative leader David Cameron yesterday did a u-turn on his opposition to regulations that could play a key role in improving health and safety in the construction industry.

Mr Cameron had put forward an Early Day Motion calling for the Construction (Design Management) (CDM) Regulations 2007 to be annulled, something that Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) felt would be misguided.

However, at the debate, Andrew Selous MP, who was speaking in favour of the motion, said that it was never the intention of his party to seek the annulment of the regulations:

"There is a set form of words for an early day motion and I personally think it unfortunate that it has to use the phrase "annul" the regulations. My party and I are wholly committed to the highest possible standards of health and safety."

Mr Selous said the intention of the motion was to "probe Ministers on the issue", to ask them to go further and faster in some circumstances, to question why they were taking certain approaches and to seek assurances about the implementation of the regulations.

The parliamentary under secretary of state for work and pensions, Anne McGuire MP, wasn't amused, though. She accused the Conservatives of "a feat of political athleticism".

"The Opposition give out the message that on health and safety issues they see regulation and burden, whereas we see the welfare of the construction worker. The message that has been given here to the construction industry, to clients and to cowboy builders is that the Conservatives want to annul regulations that are about improving the health and safety of workers in this country."

Richard Jones, IOSH's director of technical affairs, attended the debate and said that he was "pleased" with the outcome:

"Seeking an annulment was wholly inappropriate and sent out entirely the wrong message to business. This type of knee-jerk reaction to health and safety improvements must never be repeated. We hope that those in positions to make decisions and influence public opinion act in a more responsible and considered way in future."

"CDM 2007 is about designing-in safety and taking a planned, risk-based approach. It's a win-win situation: workers and public will be protected and the client will avoid delays and unscheduled costs. It's about practical problem solving - getting the job done well and safely." An average of one worker is killed and 70 injured each week in the construction industry. In the last 25 years, over 2,800 people have died from injuries received as a result of construction work, and many more have been injured or made ill. 20 young people, aged 16-19, have been killed in the construction industry in the last decade.

Source: APS

May 14, 2007 | Permalink | Comment

The ACoP is out!

The ACoP is out and available to purchase from HSE books for £15.

So there are no more excuses, you now have all the information to prepare for CDM2007! Lets us hope they have enough printed in store for everyone as it's only 5 weeks until the regulations come into force.

Source: Ai Solutions, Callsafe Services

March 2, 2007 | Permalink | Comment

CDM2007 regulations are signed!

I can confirm that the revised regulations have now been signed by the Minister.

It is perfectly normal for Regulations to form an appendix of the ACOP as those familiar with the 2001 ACOP will be aware. The Regulations can of course be sourced as a stand alone document.

The ACOP has been approved by the HSC.

There has been a very long and open consultation with the revision of these Regulations with full opportunity for all to express their views.

I have no intention to grow a beard just yet!

Source: Andrew East (HSE)

February 8, 2007 | Permalink | Comment

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations

The new CDM regulations come into effect in April. They are "the most radical change to construction health and safety legislation since 1994, the year when the existing CDM regulations came into effect," according to John Malins, associate at law firm Davies Arnold Cooper.

The new regs make those with the greatest control and influence over a project, namely the project team, responsible for health and safety. They also introduce a new role of co-ordinator in place of the planning supervisor who will be appointed by the client. "The co-ordinator will be required to 'identify and extract' all information required to secure the health and safety of anyone engaged in construction work," says Malins.

The other big change is that ultimate responsibility - and consequently, liability for health and safety - rests with the client for all construction projects. While the client can delegate the duties under the regulations, for example to the co-ordinator, it nonetheless retains liability for complying with the regulations.

"Contractors, employers and designers would be wise to review their obligations now," warns Malins. "Any projects straddling the April 2007 effective date will be subject to the new regulations, which apply to all construction projects lasting more than 30 days or involving more than 500 person days of construction work."

Source: Contract Journal, Issue 204

January 11, 2007 | Permalink | Comment

Health and Safety Commission go-ahead for revision of CDM & CHSW

I thought that you would like to know that HSC have agreed that we should proceed with the revision of the CDM and CHSW regs. The ambitious aim is to publish a consultative document next Spring. As far as possible I want to move forward by consensus, involving as many interested parties as possible.

The high level objectives for the revision, agreed with CONIAC and endorsed by HSC, are to improve the management of risk by:

1. simplifying the regulations to improve clarity and so making it easier for dutyholders to know what is expected of them;
2. maximising their flexibility to fit with the vast range of contractual arrangements;
3. making their focus planning and management, rather than the plan and other paperwork, to emphasise active management and minimise bureaucracy;
4. strengthening the requirements regarding co-ordination and co-operation, particularly between designers and contractors to encourage more integration;
5. simplifying the assessment of the competence of organisations.

If we are to make an impact and avoid the problems that have dogged CDM then the way we proceed is at least as important as the final product. I want all interested parties to feel involved and to have a real opportunity to influence the outcome. I should, therefore, appreciate it if you would use your contacts to identify opportunities for either informal discussions or presentations to meetings. I also hope to establish an internet discussion forum where we can post drafts and people can comment on them or put forward their own ideas.

Stephen Wright
HSE Construction Policy
Tel. 020 7717 6308

Source: Stephen Wright, HSE

September 16, 2003 | Permalink | Comment

Slightly More Radical Rethinking Construction

As suggested in the HSE Discussion Document Revitalising Health and Safety in Construction. "To make a real difference in health and safety, we must identify and tackle all relevant factors. We need to think widely and not restrict our ideas to those traditionally perceived as health and safety issues." (DD para. 12)

Over recent years, a great number of initiatives have focused in general on improving the industry and in particular its appalling health and safety record with very mixed results. Are we not missing an opportunity to really rethink construction? If, as claimed in Accelerating Change, the construction industry is 'vital' to almost every aspect of living in the UK, should it be such a simple matter at certain levels to set up in business in the industry? As much of the industry has clearly demonstrated its willingness to improve should there not be a quid pro quo for doing so? Consider the following:

The scale and diversity of the industry is immense. About 200,000 firms are involved in a multiplicity of activities ranging from multi-national companies to the very small. About 85% of these businesses employ fewer than 5 workers. Over 1.9 million people work in the industry from manual labourers to professionals. The industry is responsible for about 10% of the GDP valued in 1998 at about £58billions. The 'informal economy' is estimated at £4.5 billions. An independent report commissioned by UCATT suggests that the number of false self-employed in the industry is between 300 - 400,000. The costs of accidents have been estimated at £8 billions and of ill health £18 billions. Whatever the accuracy of the figures huge sums are involved and as stated in Rethinking Construction the industry "is simply too important to be allowed to stagnate".

A career in the construction industry is not seen as one that will be fulfilling or rewarding. This in part perhaps explains the shortfall estimated by the CITB of 300-350,000 trained workers in the industry even although Accelerating Change identifies the importance of attracting and retaining an all qualified workforce at all levels.

The majority of projects are undertaken for clients who do not understand and are not interested in construction. Quite rightly, they wish to concentrate on their own business. As a customer, the expectations should be that the product will meet - if not exceed - the need (on time, cost and quality). As the supplier, surely the industry has to focus on meeting that expectation. The industry therefore needs to become responsible for its own leadership and delivery of its "product" which the good business practices advocated in Rethinking Construction will help it to achieve. Clients certainly should be encouraged to commit to the project but this commitment should not be essential for the project to be completed successfully or satisfactorily nor to drive improvement in the industry.

In those terms therefore, what changes do we need to make? What are the best ways of achieving those changes?

Surely the starting point as stated in Accelerating Change is that all in the industry should be qualified and competent. Registration schemes such as CORGI and others such as the licensing scheme being developed for demolition contractors point the way forward. Schemes for registration, certification, licensing have been mooted in various formats at various times before but with a few exceptions e.g. CORGI, such schemes are flawed in that there is nothing to require the customer or the supplier to be party to such schemes. The other principal flaw of such schemes is that the cost usually falls on the registrant who gains little other than the possibility of being invited to bid for work. In reality even the most willing participant faces being undermined by clients primarily interested in lowest price despite all the advice and initiatives to support " best value " and/or by those in the "informal economy". At the moment therefore such schemes do not provide either the necessary level playing field for competition or the sound basis on which the registrants can invest in implementing good business practices as advocated in the many initiatives.

If the real primary driver is to focus on and to find the means to recruit and retain good quality staff in all disciplines and who are appropriately qualified and competent at all levels then why not require all those who practise, work and offer a service within the construction industry to be licensed but critically that in return, any construction work is undertaken only by those appropriately licensed/registered practitioners.

The detailed operation of such schemes undoubtedly would require careful consideration but "models" already operate in the USA and within several EC countries. Broadly, licensees could be registered with the appropriate professional and/or trade organisation with perhaps different levels of licence being granted to reflect experience and competence. In this way the licence would clearly identify the type of work or projects that may be undertaken and would allow for periodic review. The government already appears to be considering such a licence scheme for doctors with a five-year review period. Such a scheme could well be applicable to other professions.

Practitioners would be able to invest, undertake R and D and develop best business practices in the knowledge that they are competing against similarly "qualified" practitioners. The industry would be able to offer rewarding and fulfilling long-term careers whilst dealing a severe blow to rogue traders and "white van man". In the longer term and in conjunction with the insurance industry consideration perhaps could be given to the possibility of household insurance being invalidated if construction work is undertaken by non-licensed practitioners.

Critically for clients, advice would be more robust, competition would be maintained and costs even reduced because the industry would have a sound basis on which to invest and implement good business practice. Indeed the culture of risk management inherent in the positive practice of CDM could be of immense value as an over-arching concept/strategy applicable to all aspects of construction projects. Risk management offers a common language with which to engage all parties to a project from its very earliest stages through to completion but particularly clients many of whom are fully familiar with managing risk in relation their core business. In this way, health and safety can be considered as an integral part of all project matters not only by the construction "professionals" but importantly also by the client.

Health and safety could be incorporated with each licensee appropriate to the level of working but very much as an integral part of generally improving business.

Undoubtedly such a mandatory scheme would have cost implications but probably, with much of the administration being undertaken by existing institutions and representative organisations, would cost a great deal less than the cost of accidents, ill-health and the informal economy to GB plc.

By offering a means of reaching all who work in the construction industry or certainly the vast majority it is quite possible that such a scheme could become largely self financing in terms of GB plc. With the number of accidents and those suffering ill-health likely to reduce and a consequent reduction in costs in insurance and to the Health service, the costs to GB plc are also likely to reduce. In turn this reduction could be further improved by the increased numbers involved in training which would act as a further positive contribution to the economy. Such a scheme would also deal a telling blow to the 'informal economy' and assist in regulating the large numbers of false self-employed in the industry.

From this mandatory scheme the industry would be well placed to meet its fundamental role in the successful delivery of the government's planned investment of the modernisation of Britain as well as provide a sound basis for good design and good construction deemed by Accelerating Change to be "vital to the quality of our life: in our homes, offices, shops and factories. They are vital to the quality of our urban environment, to the regeneration of urban communities, to the provision of schools, hospitals and infrastructure, to the quality of other public buildings and spaces; and they are vital to sustainable development."

Brian B. Law

Source: Brian B Law, APS

November 10, 2002 | Permalink | Comment

Seeboard Power Networks Case Study

Ai Solutions have now completed the installation of a major software upgrade of their CDM ToolKit™ in one of the UK's premier regional power companies. Seeboard Power Networks maintain and upgrade the electricity network for the major part of the south east of England. The company decided some time ago that they needed to formalise their approach to the Health & Safety Executive's Construction (Design & Management) regulations. They wanted to ensure compliance throughout the group. Having researched the UK for suitable software to enable this, Seeboard contacted Ai Solutions to pilot their CDM ToolKit™ software within one part of the group.

The key to success for Seeboard was their decision to use standard software so that they could benefit from the many enhancements being made to the product as experience was gained throughout the CDM ToolKit™ customer base. As improvements were made to this major document management system, they were passed on to every user as part of the standard maintenance contract. In addition, the group were able to benefit from the concurrent license policy operated by Ai Solutions so that they only paid for licences actually in use across the business.

As the benefits from the installation began to be realised, many important changes were taking place in the software solution. An upgrade in the year 2000 ensured that year 2000 compliance was maintained. A new easy to use tree structure was introduced along with compatibility with Microsoft Word features.

The company was offered the Away From Base (AFB) option so that selected users could work on their laptops on site and easily update the master database when returning to their offices. This particular feature has proved to be very effective with Transmission Projects site staff whose work patterns keep them away from the office for weeks at a time but still require regular contact with base on CDM reporting issues and guidance. AFB has been so successful that Seeboard are now looking to pass the same benefits onto other staff with similar work patterns in other businesses within the group.

CDM ToolKit™ was originally designed as a single database product designed for a local area network. Ai Solutions have developed new networking options. It is now installed across 5 distributed sites serving very different business within Seeboard Power Networks. The requirement to keep all the businesses updated with the latest information from each site has been achieved by a synchronisation process that can be scheduled as required, currently each evening. This process, together with a 'conflicts manager', ensures that each business starts the working day with the same version of the database available to all everyone.

The ToolKit™ provides many benefits for the user and the manager alike. The company's CDM library is being developed within the CDM ToolKit™ so that everyone with permission has access to key procedural information and standard forms. The task manager can be used to track task, events and milestones in the CDM business. Monthly management reports are available at the touch of a button. A time line chart shows the progress of every 'open' project with single key access to a wealth of information about the project, its personnel and documentation. All documentation generated by the CDM ToolKit™ is provided from the database. Every copy of the Heath & Safety Plan, File and associated letters and supporting documents can all be generated at the touch of a button. All documents can be e-mailed, filed, or printed with the ability to keep facsimile copies for future use; this provides a full version control mechanism for the user and manager alike.

A key issue of interest to the health & safety executive is the ability of the CDM ToolKit™ to provide a full audit of the users' activities within the CDM ToolKit™ database. This is achieved automatically within the standard product.

Power Networks are now looking to enhance their solution by providing links from the existing CDM ToolKit™ database via a web browser interface so that many more users can start to access the system via their intranet. These enhancements will be delivered as part of the CDM ToolKit™ Compliance System upgrade. The upgrade will provide many more integration opportunities including the Asbestos ToolKit™ product which can be used with the new Asbestos Management regulations due in 2002.

John Park, System Development Manager
For Asset Management, Seeboard Power Networks

Source: John Park, Seeboard Power Networks

February 11, 2002 | Permalink | Comment

Construction Industry Seminar Welcome Address

Welcome

Good morning!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to our first Construction Industry Seminar!

I recently read a quotation from a certain software provider who said: "Our biggest competitor is the status quo"; it took me a moment to work it out ... I don't believe they were talking about the aging pop group; simply 'indifference'. By coming here today, you have each demonstrated that you want to hear about change in the construction industry and I am sure you are not going to be disappointed this morning.

Judging by the record attendance today, you seem to like the idea of our new format seminar which takes over from our highly successful Product User Forums which we have run since 1995.

We are very proud to be welcoming such a prestigious combination of audience and speakers. Thank you for coming!

I would particularly like to welcome Gil Briffa, the President of the Association of Planning Supervisors. I know many of will know Gil and for our part, we have been trying to achieve a better relationship with the APS since we all started together in 1995. I hope this is indeed the start of a new relationship for us; welcome Gil.

You will find a list of attendees in the pack we have given you, together with a feedback sheet. We do listen to what you have to say and will pass your comments or requests for information to the other speakers if it is relevant.

Please sit back and relax; this is your time, to listen, and to participate, informally, throughout the sessions. The speakers are allowed to pause for questions but they do have to end on time!

Agenda

Which brings me back to our agenda on the screen.

Coffee at 1100 and lunch at 1300, carriages at 1400!.

We have a very ambitious agenda covering both CDM and Asbestos.

The speakers are here to add value for all of us.

They represent the best in the industry and we are very grateful that they continue to give their time and energy to our cause freely.

Community

Our 'Community' started with the Product Forum for CDM ToolKit. It has grown to become an industry wide seminar with participants from many disciplines.

When Paul Ketteridge a former Ai Associate (is he here) and myself put our original ideas together for CDM ToolKit in 1993, we had little idea of where we were heading. We are now sitting amongst partners who are;

• a group of very successful people, all like minded Professionals,
• dedicated to improving communication
• wanting to bring to your desktop all the information you need to manage your environment, safely.

Our monthly Newsletter continues to reach more and more people by e-mail. The take up of 'technology' continues to accelerate rapidly, particularly in the past 18 months.

Our www.cdmuk.com web site continues top attract attention from an ever widening audience.

We are in the process of consolidating that experience with CDM to embrace 'asbestos' and all that that means in the new legislation. This in turn will provide links into an even bigger marketplace than CDM.

This is a community which has very wide boundaries with significant opportunities for improving communication.

We would like to think we all share one common theme - Improving Construction Health & Safety.

Our belief in Partners

I want to say a few words about our Partners.

We have met with many potential Partners this year. We have made it our business to get out there and find out who we should be working with. Our aim is to add value to what we do for all our customers. We have also learnt that our ambitious goals can only be achieved in partnership with others!

Our Agenda represents our Partnership Team for 2002. The only ones missing are;

• Microsoft and we are about to have a major presentation with them followed by some joint venture seminars with Pcubed. You will be hearing from them later on.
• Geo Instruments, based in the Nederland's; they were with us last week and we will be telling you about their contribution ourselves.
• The third is AsbesosRegister.com, Ross Udall's enterprise. We have met with Ross; we intend to provide an interface from our new product to his web site.

This list here is not exhaustive - although positively exhausting! - there may well be additions as we go into next year including for instance CHAS, a new local authority led endeavour registering contractor HAS assessments.

HSE

I have to tell you that we continue to enjoy strong links with HSE - although of course they cannot be seen to be recommending us! HSE do in fact continue to support and help us in many ways. We in turn try to support them in their crusade to spread the health & safety word to an industry which has proved to be at least a 'challenge' to control.

This started in 1994 with George Ventris Sec of CONIAC committee, Steve Williams a co-authors of CDM and Prof Don Bishop of the CIC H&S Task Force.

It continues today with HSE's Steve Wright responsible for the new CDM ACoP.

It continues with the HSE's Asbestos team - Brian Trevette here today and Ian Gooday, who has already attended one of our initial asbestos seminars to participate in our software development. We have already incorporated MDHS 100 information into our Asbestos Lite product (Mid Aug 01) and the new CDM ACoP will follow in step with the legislation.

Partners Presenting Today

But our partners go outside the confines of the HSE! We welcome here today;

1. Mouchel Consulting, represented by Mike Stokes their H&S Director will be briefing us in a moment. We have a longstanding relationship with Mouchel and thank them for that.
2. Casella Environmental Services are the largest provider in their field. They are intending to support us with our product development and testing.
3. Callsafe is a major consultancy for leading blue chip companies throughout UK including MOD, RailLink and Seeboard - represented here today. Seeboard, our largest customer, is now running our distributed product on 6 sites. Callsafe are helping us with our product development.
4. Pcubed is an international provider of project management services. In fact since they are supporting the European Space Station project, you could say they were 'out of this World'. Terrell will be giving you an insight into how we are linking Microsoft Project with our ToolKit 2002 product to bring the excellence of the 3 parties involved into one application.
5. Our interest in Microsoft in wide ranging. We are highly qualified in their products with 2 MCSEs on board. Few software houses have higher qualifications and we look forward to the launch of Microsoft Windows XP later this month and supporting you with their new products.
6. Our specific interest in this environment is Microsoft Project. Surprisingly, this is Microsoft's 5th largest revenue earner worldwide! We are witnessing an exponential increase in the use of this product and we at Ai Solutions intend to play our part in this.
7. Development Team - we have a small treat for those of you have followed our progress over the years! My colleagues, Theo Gray and Charles Hewett will be briefing you on our plans for the next 6 months and to show how we can help you with our new ToolKit™ 2002 products.

As you can see we have really strong list of Partners, all eager to support our cause in improving Health & Safety in Construction. We are very proud to offer the stage to them this morning.

Before I hand over to our first 'Partner', I would like to thank you again for taking the time out to see us today and say that my team is looking forward to finding out how we can help you with our Toolkit software and IT services; you will be learning a great deal more about these as we progress through the morning.

Source: David Marlow, Ai Solutions Ltd

October 4, 2001 | Permalink | Comment

CDM ToolKit™ 2000 SR6

Ai Solutions Ltd release a new version of their CDM document management software. Installed throughout the UK, the audited management system can be easily tuned to the needs of any business. The new version includes substantial improvements to the on-board word processing functions, version control and keystone tasking for project management. The product is fully integrated with the cdmuk.com project management web site. Projects can be published to the web and groups of external organisations can share in the dissemination of information, documentation and tasking via the Internet using this powerful tool.

Some of the main benefits of our solution are:

• A single, easy to use solution for all you CDM needs including the Client, Designer, Planning Supervisor, Principal Contractor and others involved in the CDM health & safety process
• A managed solution with audit trail and version control of all documents so that you can easily track and trace progress on all your projects
• Fully supported e-mailing, save as MS Word files
• User groupings with individual permissions to edit or read sets of projects
• Publish any project to the Internet and allow other participants to share information cost effectively and quickly
• Provide information in any printable format from one common database to meet the needs of your customers
• Fully supported with 7 year ongoing development by Microsoft Certified Professionals

Ai Solutions Ltd is a Microsoft Certified Partner and can help you source your corporate software needs under the new Microsoft Open License and Open Subscription Licensing schemes. They have solutions for Asbestos Management (for the new HSE regulations) and Energy Management (for ISO 1400X) under development.

For pricing and availability, please contact Ai Solutions Ltd on 01525 850080.

For more information see: www.aisolutions.co.uk and www.cdmuk.com.

June 10, 2001 | Permalink | Comment

CDM Seminar Welcome Address

Welcome to our CDM Seminar / User Forum. It is really good to see so many of our customers here, a high number of whom support each user forum we have. We are also pleased to welcome for the first time some non-customers. We have taken the decision to broaden the audience for this particular Forum, as we are very pleased to have a varied and distinguished group of speakers including Steven Taylor from the HSE. I hope you will enjoy what promises to be an interesting and informative agenda.

The normal rules apply in that we want to make sure that you have an enjoyable and relaxed time with the usual opportunities to network with like-minded professionals over coffee breaks and lunch. A full list of delegates is in your pack, so please make sure you are able to make contact with as many people as possible.

It is hard to believe but Ai Solutions is in its 7th year and hence the CDM ToolKit™, which David presented to the CONIAC committee in London in summer 1994. It is the result of 7 years continuous improvement and development with thanks to many of our users who are in the room this morning. As always, a special thank-you is due to those people who have helped with the product development and particularly to the Beta Testers. It is only with their help that we can continue to provide new service release like the one which we will be over reviewing today.

We have just completed our most successful month and quarter ever, thanks to our largest client Seeboard. They are in the process of upgrading their system across multiple sites. This has not been without it's challenges as I am sure John Park will agree when he discusses some of the issues in his presentation.

Our mission to provide the software tools to improve construction Health & Safety has not changed and it has led us on to producing The Asbestos Register ToolKit™ in response to new legislation about to be introduced later this year. We particularly have to thank Rob Belton from Hyder, Frank Smith from the London Borough of Harrow and Bruce Calder from Callsafe for their help with the development of this product. You will hear more about this later.

At our last seminar we launched cdmUK.com, which was set up specifically to allow better communication between CDM professionals and allow CDM ToolKit™ customers to publish their CDM documents across the web. cdmUK.com continues to increase its number of hits and we have very exciting news with Bradford Metropolitan District Council using it for their prestigious Challenge School Project where all participants are communicating via this web address. This is the very essence of our mission of improving construction Health & Safety through better communication and we thank Bradford for their continuing support and help.

Source: Anne Marlow, Ai Solutions Ltd

April 5, 2001 | Permalink | Comment

Proposed Revisions to the ACoP for the CDM Regulations

The following transcript is reproduced with the permission of Stephen Wright who spoke at our User Forum 28th September 2000. Stephen is a policy section head at the HSE and is responsible for the consultative document regarding the proposed revisions to the ACoP for the CDM Regulations.

Bringing Major Changes To The Construction Health And Safety Law Framework

Some people have been ignoring their CDM responsibilities. Some have been producing mountains of paperwork without adding anything useful as far as health & safety is concerned. To others it is a weight that drags them back in their pursuit of business efficiency. It is just a mass of meaningless paperwork. Leading to frustration.

So there you are then, just relaxing with the comfortable old ACoP and along comes the CD (Consultative Document 161 The Proposed Revisions to ACoP). What do you think of it? I really want to know. In that it still needs a lot of work to get it to a satisfactory state. The only way it will reach a usable end format is if you play your part and share your experience of putting the principles of CDM into practice and avoiding the meaningless bureaucracy!

Make no mistake we must do something. Accident numbers are increasing and so are accident rates. The government expects us to do something to turn things around. One strand of this is to improve the management of construction projects and the new ACoP can play a part in achieving that. We need a lot more though. Please send your thoughts to me on the back of a blank cheque!

John Prescott and Bill Callaghan are planning to host a construction summit early next year where construction companies, including clients, designers, etc., will be expected to commit themselves to practical improvements.

Focus Groups

The focus groups concluded that the problems were not with the Regulations themselves and that most people could live with them - strangely most of the comments we have received so far have involved suggestions that would involve changing the Regs. The one thing we have ruled out!

We wanted everyone to be able to understand their duties and what they had to do comply. We wanted the guidance to be easy to understand and easy to navigate.

In particular we need to provide information to designers about what information they should pass on to contractors, more of this later.

Case Study Material

Practical illustrations of good practice should help people who want to comply, but don't know how to go about it.

We need to cover the full range of construction work. The CD probably tends to assume that construction equates to building. Ideas about ways to broaden the range of work covered (demolition, civil engineering, engineering construction, maintenance) would be welcome.

It is particularly difficult to ensure the competence and resources of those involved in a project without generating a lot of work. We need to strike a balance here - how have we done? Can you provide a better idea or suggest improvements?

Planning & Good Management

Planning is essential to health & safety, but many plans achieve nothing because they are collections of useless, and unused paperwork. How can we make them into useful documents? Will what we have suggested work? Have you any better ideas/ways we can improve?

One reported problem is that designers often don't appreciate the practical implications of their decisions and the health & safety implications. Is that correct? If so do you agree that it is essential that they do?

I have met 2 groups of people as far as planning supervisors are concerned. There are those who want to get rid of them, preferably terminating with extreme prejudice. Then there are the planning supervisors! I certainly want to get rid of those that don't add value as far as health & safety is concerned. Have we struck the right balance? (Since almost 4,000 copies of the CD, 2/3 of the total distributed so far, have been distributed to APS members responses may be biased. If this worries you, make sure you cast your vote!)

What do you think of our definitions, mainly listed in the glossary? Can you improve on them?

I want the good companies to know what is expected of them so that they can achieve it. I want our Inspectors to be able to enforce reasonable standards where people are not inclined to comply voluntarily. Is it? If not how can it be improved on!

I don't want people doing work that does not generate health & safety benefits, worse generating paper that buries the important bits of information. Have we achieved that? How could we improve on what we have done? Text of guidance needs to be amended in view of these changes, but the changes aren't likely to be substantial. These are the main strands we have tried to draw out for 3 of the key duty holders.

This is probably one of the most significant changes. I believe it provides a sensible basis for deciding what should be communicated. What do you think of the definition and examples? Can they, with some further work, provide the information that contractors need - without loads of rubbish piled on top? I also hope designers who identify such significant hazards will reconsider to see if they can be eliminated or reduced.

CDM is about some of the procedural aspects of managing construction work, e.g. choosing competent players, communication, co-operation and planning, but the requirements about actually managing the work are the general requirements of the Health And Safety At Work act. We have the construction management guidance. Is that enough, or do we need some ACoP? If so can we say something useful that covers the whole range of construction work in a few paragraphs?

The way of achieving improved health & safety in construction, in my opinion, is to improve the management of the whole project from conception, though construction, maintenance and through to eventual demolition - I would say from the cradle to the grave, but I want less of this industry's workforce to end up in their graves prematurely. CDM will not ensure good management, but I believe it provides a suitable framework for good management. Work with us to get it right.

DCM - 16 October 2000

Source: Stephen Wright, HSE

September 28, 2000 | Permalink | Comment

User Forum Keynote Speech

The Keynote Speech delivered by Anne Marlow, Director, Ai Solutions Ltd;

A very warm welcome to our user forum. We are delighted to see so many of our regular CDM ToolKit members, many of whom have been with us for a number of years. We are also pleased to welcome some new members. Our team is the same as always, David, Theo, Charles (the I.T. brains) and myself (the non I.T. brain)

As always we want the day to be as relaxed, participative, and informal as possible. We hope that all our forums are interesting and enjoyable but we are particularly excited about this one, as not only do we have Stephen Wright from the HSE with us; Stephen is head of the policy unit responsible for the new ACOP, but we are also launching our new web based service cdmUK.com

The whole background and theme behind this service is improving construction health and safety through better communication. This is exactly what cdmUK.com, our web service is going to offer. Having a CDM community working together, sharing best practice and communicating with other principals and clients over the net. This is the culmination of the vision, which began with the development of the CDM ToolKit™ over six years ago.

We want to form a CDM community that shares best practice, works in partnerships and actively looks for ways to improve construction health and safety These are high ideals, but so many times when dealing with CDM, it seems that conformity to the regulations has grown into an end in itself, when the real objective of improving safety and health has been forgotten. The means has become the end. The tail is wagging the dog.

You can see from the attendee list that you represent every sector of the CDM community in the UK, from the smallest to the largest, from the public to the private. Our largest customer Seeboard is about to expand their network across six sites. Bradford MBC has doubled their installation to include Property Services. Both of these organisations now have their entire internal CDM community committed to the ToolKit. Another major utility is embarking upon a CDM ToolKit™ 2000 pilot project for a potential 500 users.

All of these are major CDM communities in their own right, however they also have third parties/suppliers who participate in the CDM process. Our web-based service can now embrace that entire community, internal and external. The CDM ToolKit™ 2000 will remain the focal point for CDM management with its in depth functionality. What the new web service will bring to ToolKit users is the ability to publish their projects to third parties across the web and to allow all participants to communicate quickly and easily. In this way we are seeking to break down barriers, improve awareness, stifle bureaucracy and improve construction health and safety.

In this way, our dog will be wagging its tail!

Source: Anne Marlow, Ai Solutions Ltd

September 28, 2000 | Permalink | Comment

New Internet Service for the CDM Community

Managing CDM will now be cheaper and easier than before with the launch of an Internet based 'pay-as-you-go' service. For as little as £1 per day project teams and clients can set up easily accessible documentation and keep up to date with the latest changes to a project. cdmUK.com is a new e-commerce service launched by Ai Solutions, it is based on six years experience with their highly successful CDM ToolKit™ 2000, a PC based CDM document management system. cdmUK.com enables clients, architects, planning supervisors and contractors, of both small and large projects, to keep all the relevant information in one place providing easy access across the team. It also helps clients find planning supervisors. Ai Solutions has teamed up with Mouchel, a large engineering consultancy and expert in CDM, to support and manage this service.

The aim is to provide a communication interface between members of project teams, including clients and contractors, together with extensive knowledge bases to help users find their way through the regulations. Once logged on, a user can select from four principal options:

• Ask cdmUK. A search engine which is backed up by a knowledge base on all aspects of the CDM regulations and how to comply with them;
• CDM ToolKit™ Online. A project based document management system;
• CDM DocUstore. A long term storage facility for CDM documents including the health and safety file; and,
• CDM Services. A link to providers of planning supervisory services who meet qualification criteria set down by cdmUK.com. Clients will be able to use this to find planning supervisors whilst for those offering such services it provides a valuable marketing tool.

'Ask cdmUK' helps users identify whether the regulations apply on a project. Also, it helps them to clarify the duties of each role under the regulations and assists with creating the Form 10 Notice of Project as well as the pre-tender health and safety plan.

Templates for these documents and the health and safety file are in Microsoft Word, and can be modified to suit the needs of each project.

The documents are set up and stored on the cdmUK.com server and members of the project team can download and edit them off-line. Once they have been amended they are sent back to the server. Other documents, such as minutes of project meetings and drawings, can also be checked into the system and downloaded. Confidentiality is protected through a system of security passes. This enables project leaders to control who has access to the project information, and who can alter documents or merely read them.

Through CDM ToolKit™ Online, users can access documents via a menu that lists the projects they have access to. A bulletin board enables team members to post urgent information. The system also holds contact details on all project team members in an updateable database. A library will also be available for organisations to store their key documents in.

cdmUK.com benefits from an extensive knowledge base that Ai Solutions has been developing since it first launched the CDM ToolKit™ on floppy disk in 1995. The knowledge base provides much advice on roles, responsibilities and subjects such as risk management, for example taking users through a risk assessment step by step. It is regularly updated, thus being of immediate benefit to users of the service.

When the project has finished, all of the documents can be stored on the cdmUK.com server indefinitely. This provides ready accessibility to the information and removes the need for physical storage space that can create not only a physical storage problem, but become increasing costly with time, particularly on larger projects.

Tariffs for using the service are structured so that the more it is used the cheaper it becomes. For occasional users, organisations are charged £1 per page to access Ask cdmUK, and for CDM ToolKit Online, it is £1 per project, per day, per user. However, organisations wishing to commit to long term usage are offered discounted rates per month and per year. Long-term storage in DocUstore will be even cheaper.

This service is easy to use, and management of the project information over the web will enhance communication enabling everyone to retrieve the information whether they are in their office or out on site. With the government proposing to tighten up the penalties for flouting the CDM regulations, all those involved in CDM including Clients will benefit from the greater communication potential that such a system as this offers.

For further details see
http://www.cdmUK.com or contact Ai Solutions on 01525 850 080

Word Count 827

Author note

Alastair Blyth is an architect, consultant and writer specialising in briefing and building performance. He writes for the construction industry press and was an editor on the Architects' Journal with special responsibility for the architectural practice section. He now runs a research-based consultancy advising construction clients on briefing, building performance and project team performance.

This article is also available in the following formats:

• Adobe Acrobat (PDF) (1916 kB)
• ZIPped PDF (84 kB)

Source: Alastair Blythe

September 11, 2000 | Permalink | Comment

cdmUK.com

"Mouchel, the major consulting engineering group, and Ai Solutions, developers of the CDM ToolKit™ 2000 software, have teamed together to provide a new e-commerce service for everyone involved in the HSE's Construction (Design & Management) Regulations. The new service will use a newly developed version of the CDM ToolKit™ currently installed throughout the UK with many local authorities, large corporates including Mouchel and other organisations providing planning supervisory services. The new service will be delivered through a new company, cdmUK.com which will 'go live' on 2nd October 2000 following a month of testing and evaluation by Mouchel, Ai Solutions and selected customers.

There will be 4 key elements to the new service:

• Ask cdmUK - a powerful search engine into all matters concerning the regulations and how to comply with them
• CDM ToolKit™ Online - a project based document management system for CDM
• DocUstore - a long term storage facility for CDM documents including the Health & Safety File and Operations and Maintenance Manual
• CDM Services - a link to service providers who sign up to the cdmUK.com Quality Mark for planning supervisory and associated CDM services

Further information is available from the online site cdmUK.com."

September 10, 2000 | Permalink | Comment

CDM ToolKit™ 2000 Maintenance Manual

The latest edition to the CDM practitioner's armoury completes the document management cycle for any project. The Construction (Design & Management) 1994 regulations from the HSE oblige building project clients to provide a health & safety file. The file should determine the long-term safety management aspects of the completed site.

The CDM ToolKit™ 2000 Maintenance Manual product facilitates the production of a combined Maintenance Manual and Health & Safety File. The Maintenance Manual is delivered with the standard tools available in other versions of the CDM ToolKit™ 2000 including the CDM Knowledgebase. These tools include on-line help within the product that gives the guidance required to provide both the output documentation and project planning for the management of the Maintenance Manual.

The core element of the product is the Maintenance Manual Knowledgebase. This is based on the well-known Building Centre Trust's publication The Maintenance Manual and Health & Safety File and is reproduced with the agreement of the Trust. This Knowledgebase is linked to The Maintenance Manual and Health & Safety File within the CDM ToolKit™ 2000 so that it can be used in any section of the relevant document. The documentation created in the product can be edited and saved as individual templates for users or groups of users in multi-user versions.

The new Option will allow different parties involved in the short-term provision and long-term management of this mandatory document to communicate electronically. This will bring timesavings whilst gathering the various elements of the document and managing the collation process. It will provide very significant cost savings of the long-term storage and retrieval of the file. The biggest benefits are likely to be the reduction of the hidden cost of amendments and provision of on-line documents easily accessed by electronic means. In addition, distribution by CDROM is soon likely to be the preferred method of managing complex documents for any forward thinking organisation, regardless of size.

The CDM ToolKit™ 2000 Maintenance Manual is available as an upgrade Option for existing users and as a standalone package for new users from £995 plus £299pa plus from day one VAT.

350 words

February 10, 2000 | Permalink | Comment

Market Leading CDM Software - New Release

Ai Solutions have now released their latest version of the CDM ToolKit™ 2000 software that helps construction industry professionals control and manage the HSE Construction (Design and Management) 1994 regulations.

This latest release is the result of 5 years continuous development of the well-known market leader. In use throughout the United Kingdom with large Organisations including Seeboard Plc, many local authorities, consulting companies and smaller enterprises, the CDM ToolKit™ 2000 has maintained the lead of earlier versions. Available in brands priced so suit every professional Organisation's pocket, the CDM ToolKit™ 2000 now has both more features and is easier to use than ever before. The web site http://www.aisolutions.co.uk has full details of the features and options available or phone 01525 850080.

127 Words

Editorial

CDM ToolKit™ 2000 Service Release 3

CDM ToolKit™ 2000 software helps construction industry professionals control and manage the HSE Construction (Design and Management) 1994 regulations. Clients, contractors, architects and planning supervisors have specific legal responsibilities under these regulations and many prosecutions have already taken place. The new release of the CDM ToolKit™ 2000 software includes a new Maintenance Management Module that allows the management of the HSE led process from project inception through construction, practical completion, and maintenance management to final demolition.

This one stop shop approach allows users to invest in one software solution that will guide them through the whole process of Risk Assessment, Notification and preparation of the Pre-Tender Plan, Construction Phase Plan, Health & Safety File and now the combined Health & Safety File and Maintenance Manual.

The inbuilt - and periodically updated - 87,000 word KnowledgeBase assists the process with health & safety related advice and guidance on the complete CDM process.

Report formatting is entirely under the user's control with the inbuilt word processor. Users can save their own document templates with part completed sections to any format and call them into new projects. All documents can be saved to CDROM, sent as e-mail attachments or simply saved to file. Document sections can accept cut and paste illustrations or text from any other windows based package. Supporting Rich Text Format, documents can be freely copied between most word processors if required.

Whatever the output, users can set their preferences to show a viewable facsimile of every document produced in the CDM ToolKit™ 2000. This is true version control that also allows the user to regenerate and edit the source material at any stage of the project's life. Customers wanting to control their paper file storage through on line or juke box style CDROM libraries have a ready to go solution too.

The HSE CDM legislation puts significant responsibilities on every Organisation involved in the construction process. The CDM ToolKit™ 2000 provides an Audit of every significant transaction within the database. This information can be queried through a standard database interface to find out who did what within any project.

Presented both on Treeview and menu driven screens, the user can create projects within any grouping required by the Organisation and drill down the Explorer style Treeview to the project details and CDM Documents. Alternatively, users can simply select the required project from their own recently edited documents list from the main menu. Either way, this process illustrates the ease of use that is now delivered to every User's desktop.

Designed around a relational database, the CDM ToolKit™ 2000 has a time line based summary screen, standard summary reports and timetables built in. The major parts of the database have an inbuilt Gridview that allows users to selectively present database information for analysis. For example, the Organisation database can be presented to users on a grid to show those Organisations that are overdue for a competence assessment in any required CDM role, including for instance only the preferred suppliers list.

New Options now announced include a Forms Editor to allow Users to design their own bespoke reports using data fields available from the database. The Permissions Option allows network Users to set up groups or individuals with specific read, edit and associated access to any part of the database right down to document section level. This is designed to be used across different departments with different access requirements from the same database, leading to a dramatic reduction in the cost of providing complex documentation across the Organisation.

The new Maintenance Manual is built around The Building Centre Trust's combined Health & Safety File and Maintenance Manual and provided in the CDM Toolkit™ 2000 under license. The new product brand includes its own KnowledgeBase and built-in set of forms for the Maintenance Manual.

SUMMARY

This latest release is the result of 5 years continuous development of the well-known market leader. In use throughout the United Kingdom with large Organisations including Seeboard Plc, many local authorities, consulting companies and smaller enterprises, the CDM ToolKit™ 2000 has maintained the lead of earlier versions. Available in brands priced so suit every professional Organisation's pocket, the CDM ToolKit™ 2000 now has both more features and is easier to use than ever before. The web site http://www.aisolutions.co.uk has full details of the features and options available (phone 01525 850080).

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November 10, 1999 | Permalink | Comment