A number of my clients are working on building sites.
Construction is a high-risk health and safety activity.
In 2023 a few site companies decided to start to fine their contractors on site for not operating safely.
At first I thought this was madness and unfair. However, at the end of year I came to realise that this was a good idea.
What it did was to highlight to all contractors the important of safety even more that it originally did.
So when I arrived at each site, it gave us another focus to talk about and work on. We took into account the latest HSE issues/fines and court cases and it really helped us to up our game and work on where we were weaker.
On many of the sites I look after there are non-speaking contractors and it has been very noticeable that there are more signs in different languages to support them too.
We carried out more tool-box talk training on sites, which always increases contractors awareness. Some of the monthly sessions were new to some and some acted as a reminder for others. Sometimes you just take things for granted and do things without thinking and work in auto-pilot.
What I also noticed coming into December was a mad push and rush to get work finished for Christmas and all of my sites were messy and untidy.
Luckily none of my contractors were issued with fines – so as a team we all worked well together and I look forward to seeing what 2024 brings on my sites with their Health and Safety.
Luckily none of my contractors were issued with fines – so as a team we all worked well together and I look forward to seeing what 2024 brings on my sites with their Health and Safety.
