Blog Archives
Posts with the 'Construction' tag
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
Weather Damage
There are a lot of stories about weather damage in the news at the moment, wind, storms and tree damage. The met office has issued weather warnings as they believe we are not out of the woods yet.
As an example, just weeks before St Helens rugby stadium was due to be handed over for the opening fixture, high winds ripped off part of the roof. The Contractor 'Barr' will wait for the winds to die down before workers examine the damaged sections. However, it apparently looks 'worse than it is' as a lot of insulating materials came loose. Hopefully they will be back on track within a week.
Construction Set to Fall in 2012
Economists at the influential Construction Products Association have downgraded their previous forecasts of a 3% decline in workload in 2012 to an eye-watering 5% drop.
Contractors will feel the squeeze as public spending slows and this won't just be within the housing market; it looks like contractors who undertake larger projects will start to suffer. There is a possibility that the 'recovery' will be as late as 2014 which may well mean that many smaller businesses may go under.
For more on this story see Construction Enquirer.
Hammersmith Flyover Closed
The Hammersmith flyover is closed for the week after serious defects were found in its structure. TfL (Transport for London) revealed that a "serious structural defect" on the Hammersmith Flyover, on the strategically vital London A4 route, has forced its closure.
Investigations are underway by structural engineers to gauge the full impact of the damage, meanwhile commuters will have been told to alter their journeys until a full report has been made.
For more on this story, including video footage, go to Engineers inspect Hammersmith Flyover damage.
Source: BBC News
Knighthood For Olympic Construction Chief
Credit where credit is due, we understand that John Armitt, the chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority, has been knighted in the Queen's New Year's Honour list for 2012.
This is in recognition of his contribution to construction and engineering, in particular the Olympic Park as well as his involvement in the Channel Tunnel.
If you would like to know who else has been honoured go to BBC News.
Milton Keynes: Retail Development (MK1)
As many of you know, we are based near to Milton Keynes and we are glad to hear that yet more construction work is about to happen at Stadium MK (the home of the MK Dons football team).
This is very good news for local businesses as the £56 million investment will bring much needed jobs along with leading retailers like M&S, Primark, Arcadia and River Island making this a vital new area for shoppers. This in turn should bring further investment into the surrounding area.
Milton Keynes seems to be the new 'place to be' at the moment with further construction going on in Central Milton Keynes, with its direct links to London and The North it is becoming a very popular place to be. Even Network Rail have decided to build their new central office here, so watch this space!
Get Britain Building Programme - Get Involved!
The Homes and Communities Agency has issued detailed guidance for developers seeking a slice of the £420m Get Britain Building programme. The Get Britain Building fund hopes to unlock up to 16,000 new homes by December 2014. It will operate by making loans available to projects on commercial rates, or taking equity stakes to share risk.
We believe this is exiting news and we hope that this new programme will give the British Construction Industry a welcome boost.
Developers and builders have until 30 January 2012 to submit a expression of interest, which will be assessed by the HCA liaising with local authorities through February and early March. If you are interested, download the Get Britain Building Prospectus.
Short listed projects will be invited to enter a due diligence process with final decisions and contracts expected from May with work anticipated starting up on sites across the country from June.
To read more on this news item visit Bidding opens for £420m Get Britain Building loans.
Source: The Construction Enquirer
London Bridge Revamp
The London Bridge re-vamp work has finally been approved by Southwark Council. The contractor, Osborne, will start initial non-disruptive preparatory work in 2012 under a £10m-plus contract.
The work will involve removing and transferring key station services and assets, such as telecoms cabling, around the station by 2013. Work will continue after the Olympic Games next summer, with major work on its £400m contract due begin in 2013. The station will remain operational throughout the redevelopment and will be complete in 2018.
David Higgins, Network Rail's chief executive, said: "London Bridge is one of the busiest stations in the country and this investment is vital for passengers who want more space, less congestion and better services"
Further details and architecht's impressions of the new station can be found on the London Bridge redevelopment pages of Network Rail's website.
A video is also available:
HSE: Plan of Work 2012
On the HSE web site we found an interesting document which outlines their plan of work from 2011 through 2012. In particular we noted their target sectors include:-
- Asbestos
- Small Sites/Projects
- Refurbishment
- Major clients/projects
We think that covers most of our readers! it will be interesting to see how they will achive this.
If you are interested in reading more about the HSE's plan go to HSE Work Plan 2011-12.
New Water and Environment Management Frameworks
The Construction Enquirer reports that the Environment Agency has started the search for a new line up of contractors and consultants for its next generation supplier arrangements. The agency said the new set up would help it achieve greater focus on outcome and performance specifications.
The asset delivery partner contracts will be worth up to £750m in total, covering inland and coastal flood defence work, water resources, river restoration, habitat creation and mechanical, electrical and instrumentation control.
This is an interesting article; it seems like more and more collaborative alliances are happening which means best use of resources and knowledge. Along with this we believe that the Environment Agency will get 'value for money' as well as providing more sustainable fresh water and coastal protection work.
For more on this story see Bids called for £1bn Environment Agency deal.
Source: The Construction Enquirer
Some Good News
We read in the Construction Enquirer recently that procurement chiefs at National Grid have started the search for groups of engineering and construction firms to build a series of high voltage transmission stations around the country. This is indeed good news; not only are they investing over £650 million over five years they are supporting 'collaborative working arrangements' between contractors, engineers and architects. Thsi is something Ai Solutions has been advocating for many years.
In addition to this we need to see more of this type of investment going on, it would be good to see things moving again with in the construction sector and to see more organisations working together!
For more on this story go to The Construction Enquirer
Retirement in Construction: Timebomb
It would seem we have another hurdle in front of us within the construction industry. New figures published by CITB-Construction Skills show that there are less youngsters coming into the construction indusrty. This means that construction firms face a retirement timebomb with one in six workers due to retire within the next decade and too few youngsters left to replace them.
The trend has continued over the last few years and now we are also getting more migrant workers who are less skilled than those trained to British standards. This will have a serious impact on the quality of construction within the industry.
This apparent timebomb will not just affect the trade occupations, the effects will also include professional trades like architects, surveyors and engineers. What we need is a big push to get more youngsters into the industry and boost our skilled professionals. What can the goverment do to facilitate this?
For more on this article see Retirement Timebomb to Hit Construction.
Source: Construction Enquirer
Construction: Falls From Height Still a Common Occurence
We have noticed that there are still a lot of 'falls from height' being reported within the construction industry. Much of this occurs because of bad planning and lack of proper and detailed risk assessments.
Is this lack of risk asessments because we are all being too lazy, or that due to a lack of resources at the HSE, we think we can 'get away with it'? We would hope not!
Even so, the fact that someone can, and does, get injured should make us realise how the 'good practice' of doing a risk assessment actually means less accidents and potentially saves lives. Cut backs should not mean lack of assessment nor should it mean lessening of standards. Lets look after our employees!
The HSE's web site gives out guidance on risk assessments.
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?
Network Rail Winners Announced
Network Rail has announced the contractors chosen to handle the planned and reactive maintenance for building and civils works.
This is a considerable amount of work spanning over three years, which is good news for the industry.
Network Rail have named 11 contractors in total over the three regions. Firms will design improvements when applicable and carry out maintenance to a whole host of structures from bridges and viaducts to tunnels and embankments and cuttings.
Much of the planned maintenance is now published to give advanced notice of works to the industry.
To find out who the contractors are see the Construction Enquirer.
Source: Construction Enquirer
Race for Large Blackpool Scheme
The Construction Enquirer stated this month that Blackpool's development partner Muse has started the race to find a contractor to build new council offices as part of its Talbot Gateway scheme.
Any contractors interested in this work have until 5 July to get hold of prequalification documents. These can be obtained from Mr Lord at Davis Langdon's Salford Quays office or by sending an email to blackpoolcounciloffices@davislangdon.com.
For more on this story go to Race on for £15m Blackpool office job.
Source: Construction Enquirer
Olympics Safety Success - A One-off?
The SHP (Safety & Health Practitioner) reports that Mike Williams, the Principal Inspector of Construction for London said, that given the recent cuts to the regulator's budget and the consequent impact on how it carries out its proactive work, the success of the 2012 project "was, perhaps, a one-off".
Speaking at a health and safety forum held at the Olympics site in east London last week, Mr Williams described the level of health and safety achievement on the site as "fantastic".
Overall, he said, this approach was "constructive" and, while there were lessons to be learnt, and some minor incidents did occur, "the statistics can't be bettered".
We believe this is a fantastic achievment. Those involved need to be applauded for all their hard work and attention to detail along with better management of the construction process. It is good to see that excellence can be achiveved along with the health and safety of those involved in such a large project.
For more on this article see SHP Online.
Monitoring of Carbon Use by Subcontractors
The Construction Enquirer reports that Mace has asked its subcontractors to submit monthly performance reports detailing carbon use on its sites. They are being told to record information about water, waste and diesel use. This will be fed into the Credit 360 Platform programme currently being used by clients like British Land.
This is very interesting as more and more clients are concerned about 'Environmental Issues'. We understand that Mace hopes the initiative will help it to avoid heavy penalties under the Government's carbon reduction commitment scheme when it comes into force next year and the scheme will also give clients hard data to benchmark Mace against rival contractors when bidding for work. Mace aims to use the information to build a database detailing its carbon footprint on building sites by the autumn.
For more on this article go to Mace vets subcontractors for carbon use.
Source: Construction Enquirer
London Bridge Station Rebuild
We have read that Network Rail has now revealed plans for the complete overhaul of London Bridge station over five years. Together with resignalling works and on-going Thameslink improvements, the scale of investment will soar to £800m around the busy London station site. The plans include a new concourse that is bigger than the pitch at Wembley, which will sit underneath the tracks.
It is good to see some exiting projects are still happening! Perhaps we are seeing the beginning of 'positive' change in construction & development; we would like to think so.
For more on this story go to £800m London Bridge station rebuild unveiled.
Source: Construction Sector Network
Construction Deaths Rise As Cuts Come In
SHP reports that the number of deaths in the construction industry rose by around 15 per cent last year, fuelling concerns that the cost-cutting measures being implemented by the HSE will reverse the downward trend of recent years.
The regulator's head of construction, Philip White, revealed the increase at a conference in London on April 5th on Safety Schemes in Procurement, indicating that competence - or lack of it - was "clearly a feature" in many of the fatalities.
We would wholeheartedly agree with his statement, the first cuts are always in training and, as a consequence, the competence of staff/contractors then suffers. In addition many clients believe that checking competence is a costly and unnecessary exercise. We believe that the lessons we have all learned over many years have shown that cutting out training/development can be a costly error should you (the client) be taken to court!
For more on this story go to SHP Online.
Olympic Stadium Complete
We have probably all heard that the Olympic stadium is complete but what is good to hear is that it was completed on time and under budget without any major accidents.
This is fantastic news! A complicated project such as this completed in under three years is testament to the skill and professionalism of the UK construction industry, we send congratulations to all those involved.
For more on this story, including a video report see Construction work in the Olympic stadium ends
Source: BBC News
Construction Jobs Still Falling
More doom and gloom I'm afraid. Latest Government employment figures for construction have intensified the pressure on Government to stimulate growth. The trend shows that jobs in construction have continued to fall which some believe is a result of cut backs on housing and new large building projects.
Let us hope that the Government will do something to stop the trend and maybe even invest in further housing.
£700m Super Framework
Several East London Boroughs plan to run a £700m super framework for housing, schools and general building works the Construction Enquirer reports.
The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is leading the way and has entered talks with Redbridge, Havering, Newham and Tower Hamlets. All councils hope to find extra savings by pooling their work into a single framework.
Procurement chiefs at Barking and Dagenham have got the process started by inviting bids for its forecast £79m annual spending programme, split between £39m on housing and £40m on education and other services.
It is good to see more 'collaborative' work going on, at the end of the day we are all trying to save costs. But we must not forget to keep Health & Safety high on our agendas!
For more on this idea and who to contact if you are interested in the scheme see East London councils invite bids for £700m framework.
Source: Construction Enquirer
Mid-March Protest - A Sign of the Times?
The Construction Enquirer reported that Police and angry construction workers had a tense stand-off at the entrance to the Vivergo biofuel site near Hull recently as a row over a trade package on the job escalated.
Is this a sign of the times as more and more construction companies lay off staff, or worse, go bust? Hundreds of workers contracted to build the plant have been told they have no job after pipework subcontractor Redhall Engineering Solutions fell out with Vivergo. About 25 police officers, along with two police horses, were sent to the site to ensure the protest did not get out of hand. There were heated arguments as officers refused to allow protesters to get on to the construction site.
How much more can the Construction Industry stand as more and more cut-backs occur and employees lose their jobs? It's a sad state of affairs.
For more on this article go to Police and construction workers clash over site row.
Source: Construction Enquirer
Building firm fined over trench-collapse death
A Buckinghamshire construction company has been fined £5,000 after a contractor died when a trench collapsed on him.
This recently reported story from SHP (Safety & Health Practitioner) is very sad and it really brings it home to us how easily a life can be lost due to lack of planning and no risk assessment. The lad who died is local to us (Leighton Buzzard) our thoughts are with the family.
For more on this story see Hard-up building firm to pay £5000 over trench-collapse death.
Source: SHP Online
HSE February Blitz - Construction Site Visits
The HSE is starting a month long blitz on the construction industry by carrying out surprise visits to hundreds of sites across the country.
The inspectors will be concentrating on refurbishment, repair and maintenance sites which they say accounted for nearly three-quarter of deaths last year.
For more on this see The Construction Enquirer
Source: The Construction Enquirer
Welsh Solar Panel Plan
We, at Ai Solutions support 'green' ideas, especially in construction. We have recently read in the Construction Enquirer that a forward thinking Welsh Government has started the search for contractors to deliver an ambitious plan to exploit solar energy throughout the country. The first phase of the programme is expected to be worth up to £100m over the four-year framework agreement.
If this is something your organisation may be interested in then you have until 23 February to prequalify.
For more on this see Bids invited for £100m Welsh solar panel plan.
Bowmer & Kirkland Win Ocado Contract
Bowmer & Kirkland is believed to have won the contract to build a £210m distribution centre for supermarket giant Ocado.
There has been lots of comepetion around for this prestigious development including Vinci, Simons and Buckingham. This construction will be one of the UK's biggest warehouses.
Ocado confirmed in a trading update on Monday that a contractor had been appointed for its "Customer Fulfilment Centre" on the 35-acre site on the Birch Coppice Business Park in Dordon, North Warwickshire.
Groundworks are currently underway and Ocado is expected to officially confirm B&K as winner this week. For more on this story see the Construction Enquirer website.
Fire Safety In Construction
This is not new but we thought a very valuable resource from the HSE. The second edition of 'Fire safety in construction' explains how everyone involved in construction projects can comply with their legal duties relating to fire risks. It is aimed at all those with a role for developing and managing construction sites, including clients and designers, and is relevant to all construction projects, including small refurbishment sites.
Much of what is contained in the guidance is not new, but the sections covering multi-storey buildings and high risk buildings (such as timber frame) have been strengthened to include lessons learned from recent fires.
For your free download go to http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg168.htm
HSE looks to industry
Although a long-term downward trend is still clear, the rate of decrease has slowed over the last 15 years and there has been very little change in the overall rate over the last five years.
In construction there were 77 fatalities, equivalent to 3.7 deaths per 100 000 workers. Over the last 15 years there has been a statistically significant downward trend in the rate of fatal injury to workers; on average a 3.9% year on year decrease. However, the higher number and rate for 2006/07 changes a pattern consistent with continued reduction up to 2005/06 into one of no change since 2002/03.
Sir Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Health & safety Commission, said, "It is disappointing to see that the overall number of deaths has risen. We have worked hard with industry and trade unions over the past few years to bring the number down. Behind every one of these numbers was a man or a woman, with a life, friends and family... I have to remind you that safety is ultimately the responsibility of those who manage and direct companies and those who work for them. Today's statistics are disappointing and distressing but improvements can still be made. They must be made. HSC/E is taking action. The ball now lies firmly in the industry's court."
HSE Chief Executive Geoffrey Podger added, "Those who are putting the lives of their workforce at risk should know that HSE takes this very seriously. In the past year we have approved 25% more prosecutions than the year before and our inspectors have served 1000 more enforcement notices. No one should believe that they can get away with serious breaches of health and safety."
Source: HSE Website
Construction company fined £43,000
The company admitted at Salisbury Crown Court to failing to ensure the safety of its employees, after 62-year-old George Rogers was killed when he was thrown from a dumper truck, which then ran over his body. The delay in bringing the matter before the court was due to a lengthy investigation by police and the Health and Safety Executive.
Though he had not been authorised to drive a dumper truck, Mr Rogers had helped tidy up the site before it closed for the day by driving a dumper truck filled with spoil to get rid of the load. The truck went over a sunken trench and the jolt had thrown him out of his seat, over the front of the dumper truck's bucket and on to the ground. The truck had then driven over his body.
Ian Dixey, for the prosecution, said it was a well-known hazard with dumper trucks within the construction industry and precautions should have been taken. He said the company's failings included inadequate training for employees on using plant and machinery, no adequate system of checking plant and machinery - three of the truck's tyres were severely under-inflated - no training verification system, no site traffic plan or control of speed on site machinery and no adequate system for controlling use of plant or machinery on site.
But, he said, since the accident, Castleway had taken steps to correct all these issues, including proper training for employees using machinery.
Fining the company £30,000 and ordering them to pay £13,714 costs, Judge Keith Cutler said the company's failings had been "contributory to a degree" to Mr Rogers' death, but were not so important as Mr Rogers' own wrongful actions in driving machinery.
The case was brought by the HSE.
Source: Builder and Engineer online
HSE investigates two fatalities from falling bricks
Reece French, a worker on a Kier Western site at Cattedown Enterprise Centre, was hit on the head by a skip or pallet of bricks. It is believed that he was walking under a telehandler carrying the bricks when the accident happened.
A Kier Western spokesperson said: "We confirm that a fatality occurred early this morning at our Cattedown Enterprise site in Plymouth when an employee was struck during an operation involving a telescopic handler. We are co-operating with the authorities in trying to establish exactly what happened. We are deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic situation involving a Kier employee and our thoughts are with his family and the site team."
The day before 18 year old Gareth Ritson, working on a building site in Troon, died when a pallet of bricks fell from a lorry-mounted crane while he was underneath it.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is understood to be investigating both accidents.
One third of refurbishment sites dangerous
He continued, "We stopped work on site immediately during 244 inspections because we felt there was a real possibility that life would be lost or ruined through serious injury. It is completely unacceptable that so many lives have been put at risk. Our inspectors were appalled at the apparent willingness to ignore basic safety precautions.
"The simple fact is that despite knowing what they should be doing, too many people are prepared to allow bad practices to continue, even though last year 39 people died on refurbishment, repair and maintenance sites.
"We are determined to tackle this issue head on and will continue to take enforcement action against those rogues who flout safety precautions. Let me be clear to all those who put lives at risk - we will continue to carry out further inspections and will take all action necessary to protect workers, including closing sites and prosecution."
Source: HSE website
Construction Awareness
We are continuing to support HSE, by publicising their Health & Safety in the Construction Industry pages. This is part of our remit to improve health & safety in the construction industry with audited management information systems.
Summary of Proposed Changes
May 2006
Callsafe Services have provided the following summary of the proposed changes to the CDM Regulations for you to download.
Summary of Proposed Changes to the CDM Regulations (53KB)
Principal Changes
The main changes for the existing regulations are summarised as follows;
- The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 (amended 2000) and the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 will be amalgamated into one set of regulations entitled the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2006.
- The new CDM regulations will apply to ALL construction work, but will only require the appointment of a "Coordinator" and "Principal Contractor" if the project is notifiable (Involving over 30 working days/shifts or over 500 person days/shifts).
- A Construction Health and Safety Plan will only be required if the project is notifiable, involves significant structural demolition or is of significant risk.
- The Pre-tender Health and Safety Plan is re-named the "Information Pack", which must be supplied to the designers and contractors for all construction work.
- The "Planning Supervisor" becomes the "Co-ordinator", with more responsibilities and power, and a specific duty to advise, assist and educate the client.
- The client will no longer be able to transfer the client's legal obligations to a "client's agent" as this role ceases to exist. This was always an idiosyncrasy of the current regulations as in all other health and safety law it is not possible to transfer legal obligations by contract.
- The client will have a specific legal obligation under the new regulations to monitor the management arrangements of the project, throughout the duration of the project.
- The design will have to address the health and safety aspects of the use of what is being designed, which was not included within the requirements of the existing regulations. The existing CDM regulations only require the designer, and planning supervisor, to address construction, maintenance, repair, commissioning, de-commissioning, testing, demolition, dismantling and cleaning risks.
For further details, please view the full summary:
Summary of Proposed Changes to the CDM Regulations (53KB)
CDM Regulations Update
December 2005
On 6 December the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) decided that HSE should produce a 'shortish' Approved Code of Practice (ACoP), but that guidance should be produced by industry and, possibly, endorsed by HSC/E. (An ACoP contains practical guidance on how to comply with Regulations, it would not include the interpretation, best practice or 'sales pitch' that you find in the draft guidance - as included in the Consultative Document.)
Work on the analysis of the responses, etc. has been delayed as the result of an enquiry from the European Commission about the way we implement aspects of the European Directive that underpins much of our existing and proposed construction regulations. Preparing this reply is quite time consuming, but the exercise is useful in helping us to make sure that we properly implement the Directive. It is impossible to predict the outcome or extent of the delay at present, but most of the possible changes are minor.
The paper that HSC considered at their meeting on 6 December is available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/hsc/meetings/2005/061205/c123.pdf and provides further information about these issues.<< Useful interesting document!!
Before Christmas I hope to post an outline of the key changes proposed to the draft regulations in the light of the comments that we have received (Look in the documents section at http://webcommunities.hse.gov.uk/.../cdm2006/). At the same time I also hope to post an initial statistical analysis of the responses to the easy questions. Later, probably in late January or early February, we will publish the full, anonymised responses to the Consultative Document along with a summary.
And its good-bye from him!
I want to close with a personal note. After about 5 years of work on CDM, starting with the revision of the ACoP, I am moving on to another job in HSE's Construction Division. I had hoped to complete the revision of the Regs, but the latest delays have made that impossible. (Who said: "Typical government construction project!") Richard Boland will formally take over responsibility at the end of the month. We are working together to make the transition a smooth one.
Its been an interesting time and I really appreciate all of the support and helpful advice that so many of you have given me. I hope that the new regulations, when they finally appear, encourage people to invest in teamwork and the planning and management of projects. I am convinced that this will reap dividends - not only in health and safety terms, but also in increased profitability.
-- Stephen Wright
Working at Height Regulations 2005
April 2005
The new Working at Height Regulations have revoked the working at height parts of the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996. These regulations are now applicable to all places of work.
An extract from our new knowledge base entry about the Working at Height Regulations is available here; this entry has been included in the latest Service Pack of our ToolKit CS™ software.
HSE Inspections
February 2005
The HSE are planning a nation-wide blitz throughout March. Inspectors will be visiting construction sites to assess standards of management of health hazards on site. The information in the PDF document below sets out what inspectors will be looking for and sources of further guidance on individual topics.
Healthy Handling 2005 - HSE Advice (1.6MB)
CDM Regulations Update
Stephen Wright, HSE Head of Construction Policy - Legislation, HSE
January 2005
Stephen Wright gave a presentation at the Chiltern Branch IOSH meeting on 20th January 2005. Below is a summary of the main details. You can also download a copy of his presentation from our Powerpoint Presentations download page.
Timings
- CONIAC have agreed the consultative document
- March/April 2005 proposals to go to the HSC
- April/July 2005 consultative document made available
- October 2006 new regulations
Summary
The new regulations will merge with the CHSW regulations of 1996.
The name of Planning Supervisor will disappear and become Co-ordinator. Their role will be to support and educate the client and to co-ordinate the design phase. The emphasis will be on management and monitoring. The role will have teeth and the co-ordinator will need to be appointed early on.
There will be 5 key areas for change;
- Planning and Management
More emphasis on the client to ensure suitable management arrangements are in place. The co-ordinator will support the client and co-ordinate and monitor the design phase. The principal contractor will plan and manage the construction phase and contractors will manage their own work. - Communication
There will be no regulation to say there has to be a pre-tender health and safety plan. The emphasis will be upon getting the right information to the right people at the right time. The focus will be upon avoiding bureaucracy and mountains of paper but communicating effectively with all parties involved including the workers on site. The health and safety file should be linked with the Building Regulations log book. - Scope
The new regulations will apply to all construction work as all work needs to be properly managed. If demolition is involved there needs to be a written system of work (method statement) This will always need to be written down. - Clarify Designers Duties
The designer needs to accept the balance between Health & Safety and other reasonable design creations and avoid risks by their design rather than in the construction process. - Involvement of Workforce
The principal contractor must consult with their workforce.
Please download a copy of Stephen Wright's presentation here.
Selection of Designers and Contractors
Developing guidelines for the selection of Designers and Contractors under the CDM Regulations.
HSE has commissioned a research study on this topic. It is intended to ascertain the current position in respect of the 'competence and resource' requirements of the CDM Regulations (Reg 8&9) and to propose changes for the future. The study is part of the overall review of the regulations which is currently underway.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdmguides.htm
Designers Can Do More
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM) are 10 years old – but despite time, effort, money and forests of paper there is plenty of evidence that the designer aspects are still not working well.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/designers/
Work Related Injuries & Ill Health in Construction
Latest statistics from the HSE about Injuries and Ill Health in Construction.
Follow this link: Latest Statistics.
Source: HSE
Bronze memorial for dead workers
About 200 people gathered in Tower Hill in the City of London as the £100,000 "Building Worker" was uncovered.
The Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (Ucatt) had the sculpture made as part of a campaign for a new corporate killing charge.
Sculptor Alan Wilson created the figure which sports a hard hat, weighs 300kg and holds a spirit level.
Ucatt general secretary Alan Ritchie unveiled the sculpture, which is close to the Tower of London, during a ceremony on Wednesday.
A total of 351 construction workers have died on sites since 2001 and a two-minute silence was observed in their memory.
Watching the unveiling was Mary O'Sullivan. Her 54-year-old husband Patrick O'Sullivan was working on the new Wembley Stadium in 2004 when he was killed. The cause is still not known and a criminal prosecution has not been ruled out.
"He was crushed to death that morning," she said. "And they crushed us to death as well."
Mr Ritchie said: "Our union will continue campaigning for a new law so that individual directors and senior managers are held accountable for accidents at work," he said.
It is hoped wreaths will be placed by the statue each year on 28 April which is Workers' Memorial Day.
For more pictures and streaming video of the news report, see BBC News
Source: BBC News (includes video)
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