RRC Roundtable Report

8/6/2019 RRC Roundtable Report

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Health and Saety in the

Construction Industryroundtable July 2008


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Our experts 3

Introduction by Gary Fallaize 4

Improving and sustaining the health and safety climate / culture 5

Proposed Health and Safety (Offences) Bill and the implications for the construction sector 7

Is good health and safety training a big component in the cultural shift? 8

Are high accident rates inevitable in construction? 9

Migrant workers and Safety Passport schemes 10

Getting safety messages to one-man band builders 11

Is the Health and Safety Commission under-resourced? 12

Drug and alcohol screening 13

Conclusion 14

Contents


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Terry Casbolt, Safety Director,

John Doyle ConstructionThe company was incorporated in 1966 and now

specialises in Substructure, Superstructure,

Basements and Infrastructure Works. Turnover for

2006 was in excess of 80m.

Kenneth Dodd CFIOSH, MCIPD, Group Health

and Safety Manager, Manchester Airports Group

The Manchester Airports Group (MAG) is the countrys

largest UK-owned airport operator. The four airports

(Manchester, East Midlands, Bournemouth and

Humberside) currently serve a total of more than28 million passengers every year. Latest development

projects include a radical 35m redevelopment of

Manchester Airports Terminal 1, including the

creation of one of the UKs largest airside shopping

facilities. Ken has been a safety practitioner for some

20 years, 15 of these within the Airport industry and a

further ve within a local authority. He is also H+S

Adviser to the Airport Operators Association Ops

and Safety Group.

Gary Fallaize, MD RRC Training

Gary has been Managing Director of RRC Training

since 1995 and has led the transition of RRC to a

specialist health, safety and environmental training

provider, as well as overseeing its international

expansion into the Middle East.

Davie Faulds, Group Health & Safety Director,

P.C. Harrington Contractors Limited

P.C. Harrington was founded by its present Chairman,

Pat Harrington, in 1973. Through his determination to

achieve the highest standards, the company has grown

to become a market leader in the design, safetyimplementation and construction of reinforced

concrete with a reputation for delivering the largest

and most complex projects in the UK. Davie Faulds was

appointed to the main board of the Harrington Group

in January 2004. In both 2006 and 2007, P C

Harrington Contractors Ltd were awarded the Sword of

Honour one of the most prestigious international

health and safety accolades that a company can

receive.

Willie Graham, Safety Manager,

Morris and SpottiswoodMorris & Spottiswood has established a growing list of

blue chip clients in core operations of t-out, housing

and maintenance. The company has a proven track

record of delivering for customers across an array of

industry sectors, including retail, banking, commercial,

public, leisure, health and education. Willie Graham

began his career in construction as a bricklayer

and decided to broaden his horizons and move

to the rail industry, covering civil, mechanical and

electrical, and signal and telecoms. His position within

the rail industry was Health, Safety, Quality andEnvironmental/ Training Manager and he has

accreditation for each subject.

Stephen McCarthy,

Group Safety Manager, Duffy Group

With an annual turnover of 70 million, the

Duffy Group is the original one-stop shop for all

construction requirements, from concrete structures

and trade packages to main contracting and plant

and labour hire.

Brian Ormiston,Head of HSQE, Warings Construction

Warings Construction is a subsidiary of BYCN

(Bouygues Construction). BYCN is part of the

leading French organisation Bouygue Group, with

worldwide sales of 29 billion Euros in 2007.

Bouygue Construction achieved worldwide sales in

2007 of 21.8 billion Euros, with a target of 24.3 billion

Euros in 2008. Bouygues acquired Warings as part of a

strategy to pursue development in the UK. The

acquisition complements the London based subsidiary,

Bouygues UK, which was established in 1997. Duringthe last decade it has developed a strong reputation in

healthcare, education and housing, demonstrating its

ability to undertake large PFI projects, including the

award-winning Home Ofce building. Brian Ormiston

has 30 years of experience in the industry. He joined

Warings in 2002 to implement a challenge of achieving

a sustainable one in a million AFR culture.

Our experts


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RRC Training has been involved in delivering bespoke

health and safety training to the construction sectorfor 10 years, during which weve seen health and safety

grow from being a sideline issue that was not taken too

seriously, to a high prole concern that is centre stage

on the government and media agenda, as well as an

area that board directors of construction companies

ignore at their peril.

At a time when the industry is arguably facing more

changes and challenges than ever before in terms of

health and safety (with stiffer penalties for non-

compliance, an inux of migrant workers and theincreasing need for drug and alcohol testing of

workers), we thought it would be valuable to invite a

number of health and safety managers and directors

from some of the UKs top construction companies to

gather together, face-to-face, to discuss the issues

affecting the industry today.

The debate was lively and informative and we are

glad to be able to share the discussion points and

conclusions with you in this report. Should it prompt

you to re-evaluate your own health and safety culture,

Id be delighted to talk to you about how RRC Training

can help your company improve its record and trainingso please feel free to contact me on 0208 944 3100 or

email [email protected].

Introductionby Gary Fallaize

weve seen health and saetygrow rom being a sidelineissueto a high proleconcern that is centre stageon the governmentagenda.


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What does it take and how committed are

organisations to doing it?

One denition for health and safety culture is a

system of shared values and beliefs about the

importance of health and safety in the workplace,

while a health and safety climate can be dened as the

tangible outputs or indicators of an organisations

health and safety culture as perceived by individuals or

work groups at a point in time.

Safety culture can be positive or negative.

Companies with a poor or negative safety culture

struggle to improve safety or prevent accidents (even

with excellent written procedures/policies and state of

the art safety equipment). A negative safety culture is

due to people - a poor attitude to safety being allowed

to grow and develop.

However, companies with good health and safety

performance tend also to have a positive health and

safety culture. In organisational terms, it has been

recognised that we need the four Cs to support a

positive health and safety culture competence,

control, co-operation and communication (see

Successful Health and Safety Management, HSG65).

Factors that are thought to promote a positive healthand safety culture include: management commitment,

visibility, leading by example and committing the

necessary resources; a high business prole given to

health and safety; provision of information on health

and safety; involvement/participation and consultation;

high quality training; promotion of ownership. In Davie

Faulds opinion it is the promotion of ownership that

won his rm its accolades.

We tried to be preventative, investigating accidents,

learning from them and putting systems in place tostop them happening again. But they did not stop, so

we decided to look at the cultural behaviour of men

and their perceptions, and their perceptions were that I

would look after their safety and they did not need to

worry about it. For the last four years we have been

delivering a cultural behavioural programme, just to

get guys back to thinking for each other. We did a

survey of the workforce rst, from management down,

to nd out what their perceptions were. What is it that

they believe that we are asking from them as

management? When we take on a project and sendthem out to do it under the relevant supervisors, what

do they actually believe are our priorities? When we

rst did the survey there was a general belief that what

mattered above all else was just getting the job done,

bringing it in on time. Safety was mentioned but only

as an after thought. The belief that we started to drive

home, what we tried to change, was to say that we

could have safety as paramount and still bring the job

in on time and on budget. In fact, you could get better

production if you work hand in hand with safety. There

is a tendency to think it can only be one or the other,

and you have to get them to believe that they can have

both. They also need to believe we care about them.They want to feel cared about as people, not just as

tools to get the job done.

Davie Faulds

Improving and sustaining thehealth and saety climate/culture

For the last our years we havebeen delivering a culturalbehavioural programme, justto get guys back to thinkingor each other.


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Is it enough to make a difference?

The Bill amends Section 33 of the Health and Safety at

Work, etc. Act 1974 by raising the maximum penalties

available to the courts in respect of certain health and

safety offences. Specically, it raises the maximum

ne which may be imposed by the lower courts to

20,000 for most offences and makes a prison

sentence an option for most health and safety offences

in lower and higher courts. It also makes certain

offences that can currently only go to trial in lower

courts triable in either the lower or higher courts. The

Bill has already cleared the Commons and is currentlyproceeding through the House of Lords.

However, the consensus amongst the discussion group

seemed to be that these proposed penalties are still

not stiff enough to deter breaches in health and safety

law and will make little difference to health and safety

in the construction industry. The change from the

current standard 5,000 ne to 20,000 does

not represent a high enough hike to change

attitudes and behaviour.

20k as a cost to a project value of 100 million is

pocket change. The additional 15k is a drop in theocean and is not enough to be an effective deterrent.

Willie Graham

The view was that the opportunity for there to

be more custodial sentences under the Bill will

have more impact.

There was little risk of being placed behind bars

before and now the threat of that will certainlymake people think harder about health and safety,

especially if and when there have been a few highly

publicised examples.

Terry Casbolt

It is the same as the Corporate Manslaughter Act. The

deterrent is not the size of the ne, because generally

large or medium size businesses can afford to pay it,

but that the publicity and remedial orders will have an

impact on their share price. That is a subtle penalty,

and is much more effective.Brian Ormiston

But this all alludes to a general feeling that the new Bill

has been drafted without proper understanding or

insight into the problem and that it is superuous,

given that the regulations already exist to impose the

kinds of penalties set out in the new Bill.

The changes they are proposing to make could be

included in other current legislation. All that was

needed was to pull these under the existing legislation

and focus on making that work rather than adding

another layer. It all gets too confusing. With a fewminor changes the Health and Safety at Work Act

would sufce. It already provides for the prosecution

of individuals.

Terry Casbolt

Proposed Health and Safety (Offences) Bill

and the implications for the construction sector

20k as a cost to a project

value o 100 million ispocket changeandis not enough to be aneective deterrent.


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The consensus is that at senior management and

supervisory level, training must reect the issue ofownership. Rather than the emphasis being on learning

about regulations and box-ticking, it must encompass

the ability to interrogate behaviour and interact with

the workforce. The general view was that health and

safety legislation and regulations are a real turn-off for

construction workers, making health and safety sound

inhibiting. Supervisors and managers must therefore

be taught ways to make workers see it as something

that is really going to improve working conditions and

enhance success.

As clients we recognised that construction site

supervisors had all done the normal courses but no one

had taught them how to really assess the work risks,

how to put a man to work safety, and how to convey

safety information to operatives. It sounds simple but it

is one of the most vital ingredients to learn.

Ken Dodd

Today you catch a guy doing something wrong, the

rst thing he will say is, I know, I have done it wrong. It

is no good for a health and safety manager to say,

okay, do not let it happen again. In our company they

are taught how to inquire into that guys mind. Youhave done it wrong, what made you do it wrong.

Davie Faulds

Managers need training to know how to manage the

process, including the people involved. Trainers whojust run courses on legislation will simply not get the

right people that they want in the room e.g. Directors

and senior managers. They will quickly lose interest,

because it does not turn them on. As soon you say you

need to do it because of the legislation, they see HSE

management as a burden with no business value to it.

Brian Ormiston

In line with these views, Gary Fallaize forecasts a sea

change in health and safety training in the future.

Accountants spend twice as long in training as

health and safety professionals, and they are taught

management skills. Health and safety professionals do

not receive that. Their courses do not cover topics like

talking to the guys and understanding what drives their

behaviour. That is what the profession has accepted

until now, whereas accountancy, marketing, company

secretarial and banking all required people to have

management skills as well as technical knowledge. I

think that is becoming increasingly important with

health and safety.

Gary Fallaize

Is good health and saety traininga big component in the cultural shit?

Managers needto knowhow to manage the process,

including the people involved.Trainers who just run courses onlegislation will simply not getthe right peoplein the room.


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Are high accident rates inevitable in

construction and are current targets set by theHSE and BERR (Department for Business

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) to reduce

incidents 10% year on year achievable?

According to government statistics, construction and

agriculture have the highest rates of fatal injuries,

together accounting for 46% of fatalities in 2006/7 (77

and 34 fatalities, respectively). But given that the

construction industry is clearly making such efforts to

alter its safety culture, can this poor record change? The

Government clearly hopes so. The Strategy forSustainable Construction is a joint industry and

Government initiative intended to promote leadership

and behavioral change, as well as delivering benets

to both the construction industry and the wider

economy. The nal strategy was released on

11th June 2008 and includes a target to reduce the

incidence rate of fatal and major injury accidents

by 10% year on year from 2000 levels, primarily

through an increase in organisations committing

to a planned approach to training.

Brian Ormistons organisation has already reduced rates

to one in a million, which begs the question not ofwhether or not the target reductions are deliverable, but

whether they are sensible?

From our perspective, the 10% accident reduction target

as part of the UK sustainable construction strategy

should be easy. We are down to one or two RIDDOR

a year and we brought that down from 25 in 2002.

We are now trying to get one RIDDOR in two million

and now focus on the over one day injuries and start

driving those down - it takes a positive culture with

strong beliefs.

Brian Ormiston

Others views on the targets are varied.

It was set by people who do not control men. They have

not taken into account the diversity of the constructionindustry. There are aspects of it that are more risky and

dangerous than others. Some can easily do a million man

hours with one incident and others will never get to that

no matter how hard they train and involve the workforce,

because of the type of work they are doing. It is wrong

to lump everything together and say this is the

construction average and this is what it should be.

Davie Faulds

If you are working on a concrete frame, 10 or 15 stories

high, with 500 or 600 men putting very small

components together at a high level, it is very high risk

work. To achieve the same goals as someone that is

doing a t-out is unrealistic. We have both in our

company and they are different animals, so you are

ghting on a different front.

Terry Casbolt

Again, the ownership message comes into the discussion,

a case of having the workforce buying into the targets.

It should not be about accident rates. Everyone does

these stats and says they want to reduce them, but the

problem is how to stop the accidents. We found the bestway was to listen to the guys, start getting them involved

in how they wanted to do it safely, and then implement

and let them see you have listened to them, because that

is an incentive to encourage them to come forward and

report what they see. We are not focusing on gures but

on safety and making improvements naturally.

Davie Faulds

Using the presence of accidents to measure safety

performance is a dangerous game. You might just be

lucky as an employer. Companies are becoming more

sophisticated and using proactive KPIs, such as training/

induction statistics, etc., rather than relying on the

number of accidents. That is the way it has got to go.

Ken Dodd

Are high accident ratesinevitable in construction?

Some can easily do a millionman hours with one incidentand others will never get tothatbecause o the type owork they are doing.


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How can migrant workers be trained to work

safely? Do passport schemes work? Are theyset at the right level?

The HSEs Research Report RR502 looked at the issue

of health and safety risks in relation to migrant

workers. The report looked at whether migrant

workers face increased health and safety risks and

suggests that factors which place them at increased

risk include: short periods of working in the UK; lack of

knowledge of UKs health and safety system;

motivation based on maximising earnings in the time

available and communication/language issues.

The biggest problem we have got on site is their

perception of risk. Polish, Lithuanian, Croatians,

Serbians have different opinions on the law because

their legislation at home is less stringent. They do not

think they are doing anything wrong because what

they are doing is acceptable in their own country.

Willie Graham

Passport schemes are now increasingly common in the

construction industry, designed to ensure that

employees, contractors and anyone else who visits the

site have at least some basic health, safety (and

environment) training. To be issued with a passport,

the recipient has to undergo training and pass an

appropriate test (there are usually several levels/

categories available depending on the likely role on

site). Passports can be used as a means of restricting

access to a site (people need to show the passport to

be allowed on site). One popular scheme is the

Construction Skills Certication Scheme (CSCS).

Passport schemes allegedly help reduce accidents and

ill health and train workers to a common, recognizedand validated standard by helping to promote good

practice in the supply chain between contractors and

companies. But the view of those who took part in the

roundtable discussion was that the system has some

major failings, summed up by Willie Graham.

They have just issued the millionth card, I think,

which devalues the whole system, as does a process

that involves being given a book with all the answers

in to learn from.

Ken Dodd

There is also an issue with different people being best

suited to different formats for learning and testing.

There will inevitably be some managers who are very

good at their job and good at organising a site, but are

not condent with a computer and struggle

with a touch screen test. Yet the industry currently

only offers one delivery method for passport

scheme training and if there is a problem with the

actual capability to do the assessment, there is no

alternative.

Gary Fallaize

Migrant workers andSaety Passport schemes

They do not think theyare doing anything wrongbecause what they are

doing is acceptable in theirown country


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How can safety standards be driven

through to one-man band builders?

It would seem that contractors have a fairly

strong inuence over their supply chain when

it comes to safety.

We use Version 7, which is updated on an annual basis

or when there is a legislation change. It is simple, clear

and concise. Sub contractors with fewer than ve

employees are reviewed by my department and put

through Version 7 training. They still have to ll in their

risk assessments, but we nd this is working.Willie Graham

You have got to meet a certain criteria to work on

any notiable project these days. Where you get a

problem, is a one-man band working for a client on a

non-notiable project, where the HSC does not even

know that is happening.

Davie Faulds

Getting saety messagesto one-man band builders

When you get a problem,is a one-man band workingon a non-notiable project,where the HSC does not evenknow that is happening.


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How is it best handled?

Drug, alcohol and other substance misuse damages

health, causes absenteeism and reduces productivity.

According to HSE research, there is an impact of drug

use on cognitive performance, which varies with the

type of drug or drugs used. This is mirrored by an

association with cognitive failures at work. There is

also an association between drug use and minor

injuries resulting in some employers deciding to adopt

drug and alcohol screening as part of their alcohol and

drug policy. But what can screening achieve and what

can be done with the information it generates?

Drug screening or testing is a sensitive issue because

of the many employment implications involved.

Securing the agreement of the workforce to the

principle of screening is essential (except in cases of

pre-employment testing), partly because of the

practical and legal issues involved. These might

include: How much will a screening system cost? What

type of testing is needed? How will test samples be

collected? How will test samples be kept secure to

ensure they cannot be tampered with? What action will

be taken if a positive result is given? Screening can be

used in various ways, for example: as part of aselection process for job applicants; testing all

or part of the workforce routinely, occasionally or on a

random basis; in specic circumstances, such as after

an accident or incident or as part of an aftercare

rehabilitation programme.

There may be a case for considering the introduction

of screening, particularly in certain critical jobs (e.g.

staff who have responsibility for making safety-critical

decisions) in which impairment due to drugs could

have disastrous effects for the individual, colleagues,

members of the public and the environment. Screening

is only likely to be acceptable if it can be seen to be

part of an organisations occupational health policy

and is clearly designed to prevent risks to the mis-user

and others.

Screening by itself will never be the complete

answer to problems caused by drug or alcohol misuseand its results must always be supplemented by a

professional assessment of the employee. Prevention

is just as important.

Some of those present have been using drug and

alcohol screening in a big way.

I do random testing all the time, and have been for ve

years, on site, every day. Every single person in the

company, from the Chairman down, has signed up to

the drugs and alcohol policy. I then took it to the boardof directors, advised that this was what we should be

doing, and I took it to the unions. They wanted a

conditional line that there should be leniency for a guy

opening up initially, we took it back to solicitors, and

put it in place. It is totally random and we always get

an external person to do it. I am the only person that

personally receives the results of all tests. I then

interview the person, and he has the right to challenge

his sample. There are three taken, one is for backup,

the other one is for him if he wishes to take it to be

analysed at his own cost. In todays society there is a

problem out there and we recognise that as a board.

Davie Faulds

Here we see that something which could be

understood as overtly policing, can also be adopted

by the workforce as part of the best possible outcome

for everybody.

The workforce took it on straight-away and thought it

was brilliant, because the majority do not want people

on drugs working beside them. Guys want to come and

work for you if they know you are actively screening

and they know that they are not going to get hurt at

work by somebody who could be under the inuence.

Working hand-in-hand with the occupational health

screening, it is seen as very favourable. It is about

gaining trust.

Davie Faulds

Drug and alcohol screening

Guys want to come and workor you i they knowthat theyare not going to get hurt atwork by somebody who couldbe under the infuence.


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Conclusion

The over-riding theme that came out of the discussion

was a behavioural one, the idea that ownership in

health and safety practice and policy is the crucial

issue when it comes to establishing a positive health

and safety culture.

Safety starts from the top and if you have not got the

support of the boardroom then nothing is going to

work, but what is just as important is to embrace and

involve the workforce - a companys most important

asset. Method statements can be drafted and given tothe workers, but all those who are expected to adhere

to them must be given the chance to speak out if they

do not think elements of it will work. They have to feel

that their views are respected and will be acted upon.

It is no good listening and then not doing anything.

At an even deeper level, health and safety needs to be

about really changing attitudes, about a shift in

perception that paints health and safety as carrot

rather than stick. Legislation and regulations are very

much seen as sticks, imposed from above, with little

relevance to those doing the job - an unnecessary

hindrance. But the carrot is the benet in terms ofworking conditions and quality of life that good health

and safety can bestow upon everyone. What needs to

be fostered is the notion that it might take half an hour

longer to put scaffolding up rather than teeter on the

end of a ladder, but nobody would argue that it isnt

half an hour very well spent.

It seems the health and safety industry is increasingly

looking for the carrot, to nd ways to motivate anddrive people to do a good job and do it safely, and that

this will impact upon all the issues touched upon in this

discussion on targets, on making conditions safer for

migrant workers, on attitudes to drug and alcohol

screening and on the way in which health and safety

professionals are trained in the future. Indeed training

will be the key, arming health and safety managers

with management skills to help them understand their

workers motivations and behaviour better, and nding

ways to demonstrate the benets of health and safety

to the workforce.Gary Fallaize

Conclusion

health and saety needsto be abouta shit inperception that paints healthand saety as carrot ratherthan stick.


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