Nearly one in five construction sites failed safety inspections carried out by the Health and Safety Executive earlier this year.

Visiting a total of 2363 sites where refurbishment or repair work was taking place, and seeing 2976 contractors, the HSE found numerous examples of poor practice during the unannounced inspections between 18th February and 15th March 2013.

A total of 631 enforcement notices were served in March across 433 sites for poor practices which were deemed to put workers at risk, with 451 notices ordering work to stop immediately until health and safety issues were resolved.

Philip White, the HSE’s chief inspector of construction said:

“This initiative has once again shown us that the majority of construction employers do take their responsibilities to their workers seriously.

However, our inspectors also encountered numerous examples of poor practice, from lack of edge protection on stairwells and scaffolding to unsafe storage of flammable materials and inadequate personal protective equipment. None of these are acceptable on a modern construction site.”

During 2011/12 49 workers were killed while working in construction and 2,884 major injuries were reported.

Source: HSE

Construction remains one of the most dangerous industries to be employed in, therefore minimising the risk of accidents is simply imperative. Everyone has the right to return home from work safely at the end of each day, and provision of effective health and safety training ensures that both you and your employees develop the vital skills and knowledge required to stay safe.

Myth – Triangular flapjacks pose a health and safety risk to children

Back in March, an Essex school hit the headlines when, following an incident in which one of its pupils was hit in the face and injured by a flapjack, it banned the treat from being cut into triangles. Dinner staff at the school were instructed that, in a bid to avoid sharp edges, flapjacks must instead be cut into squares or rectangles.

The decision, quite unsurprisingly, was met with widespread derision, with many citing it as yet another example of ‘health and safety gone mad’. Indeed, the Health and Safety Executive issued a statement in which it called the ban ‘over the top’ and highlighted that the real issue of the matter was the discipline of pupils.

Whilst, of course, none of us want our children to be hurt, the humble flapjack definitely does not pose a major risk – and it’s most certainly not a health and safety one!

In our most recent e-newsletter, we highlighted a serious and growing menace to the construction industry – counterfeit hard hats. Leading safety manufacturer JSP has warned that the fake hard hats are of such poor quality, that testers have been able to split them in two with just their bare hands.

Now, in a bid to stamp out the fakes, JSP has launched an online verification system to help identify the authenticity of MK Evolution head protection. By entering the bar code of your hard hat, you will receive the exact location, time and date of manufacture.

Fakes really do pose a lethal threat, therefore we strongly advise you to use the system to check all your business’s hard hats to ensure both you and your staff stay safe.

We’re pleased to announce that from Monday 10th June 2013, we’ll be delivering Temporary Works Co-ordinator Courses.

What are Temporary Works?
“Temporary works” is a widely used expression in the construction industry for an “engineered solution” used to support or protect an existing structure or the permanent works during construction, or to support an item of plant or equipment, or the vertical sides or side-slopes of an excavation, or to provide access. The construction of most types of permanent works will require the use of some form of temporary works.

Temporary works is defined in BS5975: 2008 “Code of practice for temporary works procedures and the permissible stress design of falsework” as “(those) parts of the works that allow or enable construction of, protect, support or provide access to, the permanent works and which might or might not remain in place at the completion of the works”.

Course aims and objectives
The course improves the delegate’s ability to control, monitor and supervise the implementation of commonly encountered temporary works and raise their risk awareness.

On completion of this course candidates should:

1. Understand the process required to implement temporary works in construction

2. Be more risk-aware in relation to specific temporary works situations

3. Understand the duties and responsibilities of the TWC

4. Understand the specific role and duties of the temporary works supervisor

5. Be aware of the effect of change in site condition or method of working on TW and how to react

6. Appreciate the relationship of temporary works to the CDM and Health and Safety legislation

7. Be more effective in their site roles in relation to TW

Who should attend?
Anyone involved in the supervision or management of temporary works on site, engineers, site supervisors and section heads of both main and sub-contractor organisations in civil engineering and building.

Course Outline:

• Legal and contractual issues in T.W.

• Relationship between BS5975 and health and safety and CDM regulations

• The rationale behind BS5975 – the code of practice for falsework

• The role of T.W. in construction projects

• The interdependence of design and site condition

• An overview of possible risks and failures in typically encountered temporary works e.g.

Earthworks

- Trenches

- Excavations

- Temporary slopes and stockpiles

Structures

- Formwork

- Falsework

- Propping

- Façade retention

- Needling

- Shoring

- Edge protection, scaffolding, temporary bridges, site hoarding and signage, site fencing, cofferdams

Equipment/plant foundations

- Tower crane bases

- Supports

- Anchors and ties for construction hoists and mast climbing work platforms (MCWPs)

- Groundworks to provide suitable locations for plant erection, e.g. mobile cranes and piling rigs.

• Checking and inspection process for T.W.

• Assessing risks in temporary works

Mode of delivery:

• An examination and discussion of key issues, using Power Point presentation

• Examination of issues raised using case history exercises

• Group exercises to develop risk awareness

• Discussion and review to consolidate understanding

Benefits perceived:

• Candidates will be more effective in their roles and duties with respect to T.W

• Have an improved ability and confidence in supervising temporary works

• Have increased awareness of factors that may compromise the successful implementation of TW and be better able to react to change

• Understand the sensitivity of standard T.W. systems to changes that can cause potential failure or collapse and hence be more risk aware.

Candidate pre-course requirements:

• Have a background awareness of basic temporary works

• Have experience of site operations

• Be involved in the supervision of construction works

Location and date
This is an open course and will be held at our comfortable, fully air conditioned training venue in Seaham where there is ample on-site parking. As with our other courses, a hot meal will be provided from a choice of menu complemented by tea, coffee and biscuits throughout the day.

The course takes place on Monday 10th June 2013 and runs for six hours.

Further details
For more information of this, or any of our other courses and health and safety consultancy services, please contact us on 0844 225 0575 or email e-mail: Jackie @s-safety.co.uk

Myth – Teachers, volunteers and carers should not put plasters on children’s cuts.

Many teachers, volunteers and carers refuse to put plasters on children’s cuts, believing that they are following the health and safety guidelines of the HSE. However, this ‘ban on plasters’ is actually nothing but a myth, as the HSE has never implemented such a ruling.

As well as helping wounds to stay clean, plasters can offer children comfort when they’ve had an accident and prevent the spread of blood to others. There’s absolutely no reason why a responsible adult shouldn’t apply a plaster to a child when necessary!

Below, we provide advice on the best way to treat minor cuts and grazes;

The area around the wound should be cleaned with warm water and soap. The wound itself should then be cleaned with clean water or an antiseptic wipe (non-alcohol based). A single wipe should be used for each wipe of the wound, so as not to reintroduce any dirt back into it (i.e a wipe per wipe).

Whilst some children do suffer allergic reactions to plasters, occurrences are rare. If you are aware that the casualty has an allergy to common plasters, then you should use the hypoallergenic variety or a non-adherent pad such as Melolin with hypoallergenic tape.

If the blood seeps through the plaster, or it becomes dirty, it should be changed immediately. Otherwise, change the plaster every two hours to keep the wound dry and free of sweat which encourages the growth of bacteria.

If the casualty is involved in any food handling, the plaster should be of any bright identifiable colour such as blue.

If the wound becomes red, painful or swollen, or red lines start to track away from it, then it is becoming infected and medical advice should be sought immediately.

We hope that you find these tips useful next time you’re required to treat a minor cut or graze. As adults, we have a duty of care to children and there’s no reason to allow an unfounded rumour to prevent us from offering the best possible treatment when accidents occur.