April 2009

The appalling toll of death and serious injury in the construction industry has been brought home to me by two meetings I have had recently.

I have had a meeting with Rita Donaghy, probably not a name you are familiar with, but she is a former President of the TUC who has been appointed by Rt Hon James Purnell MP, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to undertake an inquiry into the underlying causes of construction fatalities. Ms Donaghy is due to report back to Mr Purnell by the end of April 2009 and she has invited the FMB to present its thoughts to her. I have also had a meeting with Lord (Bill) McKenzie, the Minister responsible for Health and Safety at the Department of Work and Pensions, for a more general discussion about the implementation of safe working practices.

FMB COMMITTED TO PROMOTING SITE SAFETY

Although some improvement has been made since the 1980s and early 1990s when construction deaths were averaging 130 every year, 72 people in the industry lost their lives last year whilst at work. Falls remain the predominant cause, with accidents involving moving vehicles, plant or materials close behind. While FMB members are not so likely to be the victims of accidents involving tower cranes or on motorway maintenance sites, the evidence points to a significant proportion of accidents occurring on small sites and with smaller employers. My concern remains that the quality of data collected does not allow any differentiation between smaller employers who take their responsibilities seriously and those operating in the grey economy that treat Health and Safety in just as cavalier a fashion as paying their taxes.

My clear message to both Rita Donaghy and Bill McKenzie was that the FMB, and its members, consider Health and Safety to be the highest priority. The FMB is actively engaged with many statutory and cross industry bodies working in this area, and we offer members a range of support services for advice on health and safety. Our Information Services Department (tel: 0870 162 0947) can answer most enquiries and a specialist helpline is available for more detailed questions.

Factsheets on many aspects of Health and Safety are available on the FMB website, or can be requested in hard copy from the information department. Regular articles appear in Master Builder magazine and specialist workshops are run around the country. Above all, the FMB works closely with the Health and Safety Executive to ensure that each is aware of the needs and concerns of the other.

WORKER SAFETY ADVISOR SCHEME

But more needs to be done. Above all the statutory regime needs to be simplified. The FMB has identified 26 separate Acts of Parliament and Regulations that need to be complied with and where breaches could result in prosecution. We have long argued that whilst managing this volume of legislation may just be possible for a larger business with specialist staff available to scrutinise, explain and train, smaller companies need fewer regulations, with clearer explanations in the source documents and effective enforcement.

The FMB is also arguing for the Government to put funding into a nationwide Worker Safety Advisor scheme. The pilot run by the FMB, the Transport and General Workers Union (now Unite), and UCATT in 2005-07 was highly successful in taking specialist support to building sites to give practical advice. Rolling that scheme out now would be highly cost effective.

Another concern of the FMB is the availability of advice from the HSE. A number of publications still remain available only at a cost, and the FMB believes that high quality advice from the regulator must be freely available to all those from whom compliance is required. The FMB has offered the HSE a regular page in this magazine to put across its key messages. I hope that this offer will be taken up.

EVEN PLAYING FIELD

Finally, there is a need to tackle the informal economy. The difficulty of targeting those businesses that operate informally (who I am convinced are where a disproportionate amount of accidents occur), means that the limited resources available for enforcement remain focussed on those who work legitimately. At the same time with clients, particularly those in the domestic sector still driven almost entirely by price, responsible builders will be at a real disadvantage against those prepared to cut corners and put lives at risk. Perhaps the time has come to put domestic clients under the same liability as commercial clients for ensuring same working practices on their property.

Richard Diment

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September 2009

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), carried out an evaluation of first aid in the workplace and found that although first aid awareness in workplaces was good, compliance was found to be more ‘in spirit’ rather than the letter of the regulations.

This brought to light some important deficiencies in the ‘format and content of guidance and in the proportionality of the current regulatory requirements for lower risk employees’. The changes have been developed in consultation with employers and training providers and it is hoped that the new format will make it easier for employers to comply with the regulations.

WHAT ARE THE CHANGES?

From 1 October 2009, the current initial four day First Aid at Work (FAW) course will be shortened to three days and there will be a new qualification of Emergency First Aider in the Workplace (EFAW) that will require a one day training course.

EFAW training enables a first aider to give emergency first aid to someone who is injured or becomes ill while at work.

FAW training includes EFAW and also equips the first aider to apply first aid to a range of specific injuries and illness. Employers should use the findings of their first aid needs assessment to help them decide whether first aiders should be trained in FAW or EFAW.

If the needs of the workplace require FAW trained first aiders to be provided, it is not an acceptable alternative to provide EFAW trained first aiders.

The FAW re-qualification remains unchanged at two days. The HSE will also strongly recommend that FAW and EFAW students attend an annual three hour annual refresher course to prevent ‘skills fade’.

Both the First Aid at Work and Emergency First Aid in the Workplace courses will be approved by the HSE and must be taught by HSE approved first aid training providers.

Any current FAW certificates will remain valid until the expiry date even if this is after 1 October 2009.

SHORTER COURSES

On 1 April 2009 the HSE confirmed that the shorter First Aid at Work course will be similar to the current version in content, but will be covered in three days, not four, this doesn’t mean that you will learn less. Recent simplification of first aid protocols, including CPR and casualty movement, mean that less time is needed to teach these and other subjects.

The new training arrangements do not affect first aiders holding a valid FAW certificate obtained under the existing arrangements. However, where a first aider retrains on or after 1 October 2009, the new arrangements will apply.

HOW MANY FIRST AIDERS YOU NEED

Employers are required to carry out a risk assessment to decide on the numbers of first aiders required and the level of training needed.

When assessing your specific needs, you need to consider: 

• Workplace hazards and risks
• The size of the organisation
• The organisation's accident history
• The nature and distribution of the workforce
• The remoteness of the site from emergency medical services
• The needs of travelling, remote and lone workers 
• Employees working on shared or multi-occupied sites
• Annual leave and other absences of first aiders and appointed persons.

The HSE will provide updated guidance for employers on 1 October 2009 on how many first aiders will be needed depending on the size and nature of your organisation. However, it is up to each employer to maintain their risk assessment.

LEVEL OF RISK

Your risk assessment will highlight the level of risk in the workplace, using this information you will be able to decide what course is required for your first aiders.

Generally speaking, first aiders with a First Aid at Work certificate will be required in higher risk sites or places with a large workforce or high perceived level of risk; lower risk may only require Emergency First Aid in the Workplace trained staff, but this will dependant on other factors that a risk assessment will identify.

August 2008

You may have heard about a pilot scheme recently launched, which involves the building control industry working with the HSE to improve health and safety compliance on small and medium sized building sites.

IMPROVED HEALTH & SAFETY COMPLIANCE
The scheme involves the Luton office of the HSE and building control bodies, both local authorities and approved inspectors, operating across Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

The scheme doesn’t really operate any differently to what we in building control do already, except where things have gone wrong. Where a building control surveyor spots a health and safety infringement, it is always brought to the attention of the builder or owner of the site. This is not just to protect ourselves but also others on the site. We do not make it our job to go looking, but to tell you the truth, there are some things you just can’t miss! If the infringement isn’t corrected - or our advice is just not heeded and the site remains a risk, the surveyor would normally inform the HSE.

Under this pilot scheme, the surveyor could report the matter to the HSE complete with photo’s enabling the HSE to carry out its own assessment and decide whether a site visit is required, or if there is enough evidence to carry out a desk-top prosecution. There will then be feedback mechanisms to the building control body confirming the HSE’s actions.

The statistics speak for themselves, whilst the HSE has just five inspectors at its Luton office, building control bodies have in excess of 300 staff visiting nearly 12,000 sites across the region every week. This significantly increases the odds in favour of catching persistent offenders.

To accompany this, building control bodies will be working with the HSE to provide joint training and distribute information to our customers on health and safety issues. If successful the scheme could be rolled out to other areas.

Some people feel that this could be seen as building control becoming ‘Big Brother’, but with the level of deaths and accidents on site still remaining uncomfortably high, I see it as the building control profession doing its bit to improve the industry we all work in.

I will let you know how we get on!

PART G, HYGIENE
My second piece of news is the recently issued consultation on a new Part G, Hygiene, which it is proposed to rename: ‘Sanitation, Hot Water Safety and Water Efficiency’ to reflect the revised scope of the Approved Document (AD).

The present AD G was last updated in 1992 although a number of non-technical amendments were made in 2000. Since 1992, plumbing and building practice has moved on, standards and legislation have changed and technology has developed. Both industry and the Government agree that the language and references need to be brought up to date, and that a number of other changes are required to reflect current Government policy.

It is proposed that in future, Part G will be split into seven different areas:
 

• G1 Cold Water Services
• G2 Water Efficiency
• G3 Hot Water Services
• G4 WCs and associated facilities
• G5 Bathrooms
• G6 Food Preparation Areas
• G7 Sanitary Appliances
   

For the first time, specific demands are made on water efficiency, bringing the regulations more into line with the Code for Sustainable Homes. The full consultation can be viewed on the CLG website but you will have to be quick to respond as the closing date is 5 August 2008. HSE’s actions.

REMEMBER
 

• The building Control industry and HSE are to work together to improve H&S on small medium sites
• The HSE could carry out desktop prosecutions on those sites where no action is taken to improve obvious infringements
• Changes are proposed to Part G of the Building Regulations including measures to improve water efficiency.