CSCS is assessing how the scheme is delivered to the construction industry so it can improve service levels.  Currently CITB ConstructionSkills provides the helpdesk and application processing service under contract to CSCS and the five year notice period to terminate the contract has been served.

CSCS chief executive Brian Adams comments:

“We need to ensure that the CSCS scheme continues to be fit for purpose and meets the needs of the construction industry.  Planned changes include an updated card structure and the intention to introduce an online card application service.  CSCS will continue to consult with representatives from across the industry to determine how best it can provide the best possible service going forward.”

 The HSE has issued several comments recently indicating that client demands and corner cutting has led to an increase in deaths within the construction industry.

HSE fatality figures, due to be released, are expected to reveal that there is an increase in the amount of deaths of people working in construction during 2010-11,based on the previous year.

This increase has been associated with clients demanding more from their contractors. 

Companies are also facing the consequences of pushing construction workers too hard – last month two construction firms in Northern Ireland were fined a total of £61,000 after 150 tonnes of concrete collapsed injuring six workers.

These facts come at a time when the HSE is seeing its budget reduced by 35% -  the number of proactive site inspections the HSE makes is also being cut.

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, indicating that competence – or lack of it – was “clearly a feature” in many of the fatalities.

Mr White emphasised that the figures are completely provisional and unverified at this early stage but HSE monitoring of the reports coming into it between April 2010 and March 2011 indicated a rise of around 15 per cent on last year’s low of 42 deaths.

Mr White said the rise cannot be seen as statistically significant yet, but the HSE “will be keeping an eye on the trend, and if it goes up again over the next 12 months, we will have to look closely at the causes of that”.

Philip White was adamant that construction remains a priority industry for the regulator, and that there will be no drop in the number of front-line construction inspectors, other than those coming to the end of fixed-term contracts this summer. He admitted, however, that now that the first period under the spending review is underway, “we will need to see how we manage over the next 12 months”.

The focus during that period, he said, will be on the smaller operators in the industry, “as that is where the biggest problems still lie”.

The Strategic Forum Plant Safety Group have published new guidance intended to help industry reduce the risk of accident and injury when working telehandlers.

 The new document – Safe Use of Telehandlers in Construction - was written by a Working Group which was formed in February 2010. Over 40 people contributed to the work, representing over 30 companies and trade bodies. HSE are members of the Working Group, and the Best Practice Guidance was prepared in conjunction with them

E-mail info@spectrumrisk.co.uk for a copy

A great tip from the construction company Tamdown Construction, eager to increase worker engagement to ensure a safer workplace, is the daily WiSE briefing in which all operatives ask themselves a crucial question: “What difference can I make to make this site a safer place to work?”

Wherever a site is operational then WiSE is operational, too, supplemented by a Site Safety Forum which oversees and reviews the programme on site.

Check more of this out on http://www.hse.gov.uk/involvement/doyourbit/case-study-tamdown.htm

The use of mobile elevating work platforms (MEWP’s) are currently under investigation by the HSE following  a number of fatal and serious accidents where operators have become trapped between the guardrails or other equipment on the platform and adjacent obstructions.

 The selection and application of MEWPS need to be carefully managed and implemented by competent people. New guidance deals specifically with preventing entrapment and has been prepared by contributors with extensive experience of MEWP use and accident investigation and captures that experience to share with others who might not appreciate the dangers.

 Anyone engaged in the supply or use of MEWPS should familiarise themselves with the guidance and act on its recommendations. The guidance is relevant to anyone using MEWPs, not just those in the construction industry.

Key areas for attention are as follows:

• Effective work planning
• Selection of equipment for the specific tasks and environment
• Training of managers and operators including on the specific machine to be used
• Preparation and practice of detailed procedures to be followed if someone is trapped and needs to be rescued quickly to minimise harm.

 HSE inspectors will consider enforcement action where they believe there is a risk of entrapment which is not being managed effectively.

MEWP’s – avoiding trapping & crushing to people in the platform