CPA: Construction Industry leaders make progress on Health and Safety Agenda

CPA: Construction Industry leaders make progress on Health and Safety Agenda

CPA: Construction Industry leaders make progress on Health and Safety Agenda

The Strategic Forum’s Health and Safety Group has set out new measures to take forward the industry’s Framework for Action.

Each of the ‘task and finish’ working groups set up to focus on individual issues has outlined progress being made.

The Framework arose out of the industry meeting called last year by the former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Peter Hain to address the rise in construction fatalities with particular focus on the house building and refurbishment sector.
The aim of the Framework for Action is to achieve real short term and long term improvements, having engaged a wide spectrum of industry and agreed targeted approaches. Members are committed to being able to clearly identify what action will be taken and what difference it will make.
The work of the ‘task and finish’ groups include:

1. Sharing Information
Chair – Stephen Ratcliffe, Construction Confederation
Actions being taken include a Strategic Forum webpage in devleopment that provides a single portal for H&S issues such as best practice and ‘near hits’.

2. Competence
Chair – Simon Mantle, National House Building Council
Has focused on 6 key issues – inductions, training, client leadership, SME’s, safety schemes in procurement and Worker Safety Advisors. Will target efforts on inductions and supervisor schemes.

3. Worker Involvement
Chair – Alan Ritchie, Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians
Has Identified key factors that influence worker engagement, is now focusing on developing model approaches to worker engagement, both formal and informal.

The Forum’s Health and Safety Group has also agreed to provide leadership for the industry by taking actions such as working with client representative groups to ensure better public sector procurement practices and to collate ‘near hit’ information for lessons to be learnt across industry.

The Health and Safety Group will provide a second report to the Government in August and will next meet in June.

-Ends-
Notes

1. The principal role of the SFfC is to coordinate, monitor, measure and report on progress under 4 key agendas. The Health and Safety Group is a sub-committee of the Strategic Forum, working in collaboration in delivering on the health and safety agenda.

2. Organisations which attended the meeting:

Association of Project Safety
Civil Engineering Contractors Association
Considerate Constructors Scheme
Constructing Excellence
Construction Clients Group
Construction Confederation
Construction Equipment Association
Construction Industry Council
Construction Plant Hire Association
Construction Products Association
ConstructionSkills
Consultants Forum
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Engineering Construction Industry Association
Federation of Master Builders
Health and Safety Executive
Home Builder Federation
Institution of Occupational Safety and Health
Local Authority Building Control
National Access and Scaffolding Confederation
National Federation of Builders
National House-Building Council
National Housing Federation
National Specialist Contractors Council
Office of Government Commerce
Olympic Delivery Authority
Scottish House Builders Health and Safety Forum
Specialist Engineering Contractors Group
Union of Construction Allied Trades and Technicians

Further information:
Simon Storer, External Affairs Director
Construction Products Association
Tel: 020 7323 3770
Fax: 020 7323 0307
Mobile:07702 862 257
E-mail: simon.storer@constructionproducts.org.uk

Shelley Atkinson-Frost,
Construction Confederation Director of Health & Safety
020 7227 4553 or shelley.atkinson-frost@theCC.org.uk

www.strategicforum.org.uk