Newsletter December 2002

Working Well Together

The HSE led national Working Well Together campaign is now in its 4th year. The annual conference took place yesterday (28th November 2002) in Birmingham followed by the awards dinner. We were pleased to be part of this year's conference which was well attended and supported by many well known national speakers. The WWT initiative has come a long way since it's inception and is looking at ways to extend the Health & Safety message into the Regions and further develop the WWT campaign. A full conference listened to Kevin Myers, Chief Inspector of Construction, outline the aims & objectives of the day and introduce the key speaker, Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Health & Safety Commission. The emphasis was upon how the industry can reduce the unacceptable level of fatalities and ill health. The focus was on ideas and discussion groups via break out workshops.

One of the developments within the campaign has been the formation of 2 new regional groups (Southwest & Midlands) and the conference heard about the benefits and successes of each. As a result, the commitment to expand these regional groups was embraced; a further 5 were committed to on the day.

Also a reminder from Stephen Wright, (HSE Construction Policy Unit) that you only have until the 31st of December to give your contributions and solutions to 'The Revitalising Health & Safety in Construction' Discussion Document.

Main Presentations

Bill Callaghan stated that there is a proven 95% correlation between safety performance on construction sites and economic performance. In other words, "Good health & safety is good business".

The new South West team spoke of the shameful situation where the industry loses one colleague per week (ie over 80 deaths per year in UK). Tom Harper spoke about the processes they are going through to reduce this including framework agreements with leading local authorities and utility companies in particular. Peter Bowers of the West Midlands group spoke of their backing for the CSCS (Construction Skills Certification Scheme - CITB). We learnt that the European Parliament has banned the introduction of a single database for competence records for contractors. It was stated that 35% of all deaths are design related and that a significant proportion of construction workers were illiterate - so don't expect them to read policy statements, method statements or risk assessments - let alone produce them.

Stephen Wright (HSE) emphasised how the concentration of death rates can obscure those 'silently injured' on building sites and who are least able to defend themselves - asbestos related, noise, dermatitis and so on. Health is the issue; workers are disposable in the eyes of many. The black economy is still rife, 47% of us prefer to avoid VAT by making cash payments for building work. There are, apparently, half a million bogus self-employed people out there too. Where is the commitment to health & safety and training, one is bound to ask? Some Clients at least, who should - by Law - be setting the health & safety tone - do not care.

You can download a copy of Stephen Wrights discussion document and respond to it with your ideas for change by visiting the HSE website. You have until the end of December 2002 to respond.

Roger Evans (DTI) introduced the Accelerating Change document. His theme was that 'good projects are safe projects'. Attracting the right people and retaining them is about to become an issue - we need about a third of a million in the next 5 years! We live in an environment where training runs counter to retention and need to find a way out of this quickly.

The Strategic Forum for Construction has recently published the Accelerating Change report (ISBN 1 898671 28 1) on the Forum chaired by Sir John Egan. The report sets out the vision, strategic targets and future actions by the Forum and its recommendation. You can find information about the document by phone 020 7837 5702 or at www.rethinkingconstruction.org.

APS - A Radical View

Brian Law, Chief Executive of the Association of Planning Supervisors, has made us aware of his contribution to the Revitalising Health and Safety debate regarding the licensing of construction industry professionals. He put the emphasis for CDM health & safety matters away from the client and squarely on the professionals involved - from designer to construction worker - through a licensing scheme.

Brian illustrates his argument with the example of someone buying a new car. You have expectations on what the car should be like and how it should perform. You have no responsibility on how it was constructed other than exercising your right to buy from your chosen market. Why should the Client resourcing a commercial building be in a different position and be responsible for the nitty gritty of how it is constructed? We have attached Brian Law's discussion document for your early information. It is a very interesting view!

Asbestos Management Regulations - Now Law

The long awaited and much delayed Control of Asbestos Regulations 2002 became Law on 21 November 02 with the exception of regulation 4, the duty to manage. Duty holders have a period of grace until 21 May 2004 in which to comply with this aspect of the new regulations. For many, this will be hard to accede to if they have not already started their management processes.

HSE Books

HSE Books should have the following documents ready for you now;

• ACoP
  Management of Asbestos in Non Domestic Premises
  L127 ISBN 0 717623 82 3
• Extended Guidance
  A Comprehensive Guide to Managing Asbestos in Premises
  HSG 227 ISBN 0 717623 81 5
• Free Leaflet - (unless you order more than 1)
  A Short Guide to Managing Asbestos In Premises
  INDG 223 - 3rd Edition

Free Evaluation CDROM - Asbestos and CDM

We have an evaluation CDROM with both the Asbestos and CDM modules of ToolKit CS™. You can order this from Ai Solutions by contacting us with your business details.

Autumn Offers - Only 3 weeks left!

ToolKit CS™ - CDM and /or Asbestos Compliance

New Customers purchasing ToolKit CS™ CDM
Prices for the CDM product are similar to previous versions except that at the basic level, there is no 'branding' of the CDM product for Planning Supervisor, Contractor and so on. We are currently shipping all the functionality code to every customer. Purchase a standalone version now and we will ship the full Corporate functionality for £1,495 plus £299 pa standalone or £3,995 plus £799pa for a 1 concurrent network license if you use a network.

Customers purchasing ToolKit CS™ Asbestos Standalone
The Asbestos ToolKit CS™ is available standalone for £794 (plus VAT).

Asbestos ToolKit CS™ standalone is normally £995 plus £299 pa; our 50% offer price is £495 plus £299 pa. Order and pay for this product by 20 December 2002 and you pay £794 plus VAT.

New Customers purchasing both CDM and Asbestos
We are offering both CDM and Asbestos on the same networked database for approximately 120% of the CDM price (ie the Asbestos module is being supplied at 80% discount). Please call us for a quote; this price will increase in the New Year.

If the offer you are looking for is not here, please call us to discuss!

Our Autumn Offers will close on 20th December 2002.

Ai Solutions Team