Construction Net

HSE to charge contractors £124 per hour

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:23:18 +0000

As most people are aware from October 2012 HSE will be looking to recover the costs incurred when undertaking investigations, and when dealing with relative minor breaches at site level. The “fee for intervention” scheme is designed to recover the 35% cut in the HSE budget. At £124 per hour the consequences for contractors could be huge, and all contractors would be advised to revisit their procedures and practices at site level. http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/fee-for-intervention/index.htm

HSE Report rise in construction fatalities

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:06:19 +0000

In the 12 month period between March 2010 and 2011 the HSE have reported that 50 construction workers were killed on UK building sites. This figure is almost 20% up on the previous year and this equates to 2.4 deaths per 100,000 workers. The most common causes of death were falls from height and callopses, both at 26%. 70% of deaths occurred on refurbishment projects.

Top Bank select Cloud Computing as the No. 1 Business Trend

Eurosafe UK — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:24:54 +0000

Eurosafe UK have been invited to the next regional business development event hosted by Santander. The aim of Santander’s Breakthrough event is to assist businesses that have been identified as having the potential to drive the country forward out of the downturn. vAs part of this initiative Santander have listed their top 5 trends that will change the way we all do business…………with Cloud Computing as the no. 1 trend that will change business over the coming months. On their www.santanderbreakthrough.co.uk web site they state that “Cloud computing is a key enabler of IT, and has an outsize impact for smaller, faster-growing businesses. Traditionally, organisations’ total cost of ownership for IT equipment was a significant drag on adopting the latest systems. This was doubly true of fast-growing businesses, as their IT systems rapidly fell short due to architectural or storage concerns. The ability to utilise storage and processing on tap, as a utility, means that IT administrators are able to devote their resources to sourcing, procurement and integration, as opposed to deployment and maintenance. Products such as Google Apps are specifically geared to address these requirements.” Again Eurosafe UK appear ahead of the game with our Cloud Computing compliance and property management portals – see www.cloudsuk.com

High Street giants sign up to Cloud Computing

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:28:54 +0000

Clouds UK are pleased to announce the continuing success of our groundbreaking portals.

Recent contract wins have resulted in more High Street names using www.cloudsuk.com to manage their statutory compliance issues in relation to their property portfolios. Both Next and Thornton’s are using the portal to help discharge their asbestos management duties, whilst J D Wetherspoon are using the web based system to control all compliance issues associated with their property portfolio. This includes the periodic servicing of food hoists, electrical wiring, gas appliances, fire extinguishers etc.

By using www.cloudsuk.com clients are able to benefit from real time reporting on how compliant their property estate is. By allowing their service providers to access the relevant part of the web site the client is able to audit if each service provider is undertaking the statutory testing and inspection within the timescales agreed within their service agreement. This is possible due to the web site being fully auditable by the client organization with all documents and user activity being subject to a comprehensive and visible audit trail.

The concept behind Cloud Computing allows users to share, store and back-up information by using the internet as opposed to their own servers. A user of www.cloudsuk.com can establish their own cloud network almost immediately and can permit invited users to access and post their data via a secure network. The user also saves on the costs associated with network cabling, host servers, back-up operations, on-site system maintenance and air conditioned server cupboards.

Andy Newsham, joint chief executive of Clouds UK comments: “We are delighted that more and more clients are deciding to use our Cloud Computing products to manage their property compliance issues. One of the main reasons for the success of www.cloudsuk.com is the transparent cost savings that can be achieved by hosting all compliance documentation in one place. Why would a client not want to save costs AND be compliant?”

For more information on Clouds UK please contact Andy Newsham on 08448 24 34 48 or via andy@cloudsuk.com or visit www.cloudsuk.com

Is undertaking a Fire Risk Assessment easy money?

admin — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:40:59 +0000

Well, not if you are John O’Rourke from Mansfield Fire Protection Services. Following a successful prosecution by Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service Mr. O’Rourke admitted 2 offences under the Fire Safety Order relating to the failure to carry out a suitable risk assessment. This is believed to be the first prosecution of a Fire Risk Assessor. If individuals are carrying out FRA’s for you please ensure that you check out their credentials. Not only did O’Rourke get a £5862 fine he also got 8 months inside!….As did the hotel owner who employed him.

Huge rise in construction fatalities

Eurosafe UK — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 16:32:59 +0000

Bad news. The number of fatalities on UK construction sites increased by 25% in the last 12 months – this is despite tha fact that actual construction activity is down. A total of 50 people were killed with over half of them as a result of falls from height. 8 people were killed by the collapse of temporary works

Wow – what a skyscraper!

admin — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:24:41 +0000

Just come back from a few days in London and walked past the Shard which will be the largest skyscraper in Europe once completed. I last saw it in March on a misty day so couldn’t see up to the top but I got the full view this time and what a structure! It’s built next to London Bridge station so it is a hell of a feat to build a structure of this size so fast on a site which must be a logistical nightmare to get materials and plant in and out. I can’t wait to see it finished – a true testiment to the skills of the UK building industry.

HSE announce changes to RIDDOR

Eurosafe UK — Thu, 19 May 2011 08:32:48 +0000

Statutory reporting to HSE of the majority of work-related injuries and incidents under RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995) will only be possible using their online system as from the 12th September this year. The current online forms will be amended to speed up the current reporting process . However fatalities, major injuries and incidents will still be reported to the Incident Contact Centre by telephone, as is the case currently.

Additionally the HSE’s Infoline information service will end on September 30th 2011. The HSE are now directing individuals and businesses requiring information on health and safety issues to their website.

Potential changes to the CDM Regulations

Eurosafe UK — Mon, 09 May 2011 11:56:28 +0000

Nussbaumer is a name that, dare we say, is a bit foreign to us all. So what, who etc. is Nussbaumer and why should we be interested?

Well, to cut a long story short the European Court of Justice (ECJ), found that a client by the name of Martha Nussbaumer had not appointed a co-ordinator on a domestic roofing project that involved more than one contractor. In essence she had done nothing more than follow the Italian interpretation of the European Direct behind what we know as the CDM Regulations. However the findings of the ECJ mean that if the Italians have it wrong than so have we! Certainly one to watch as the implications are that the next lot of changes to the CDM Regulations may well see all construction work involving more than one contractor having to have a coordinator appointed and a health and safety pack produced regardless of who the client is and how long the project is on site.

CDM Regulations – help for designers

Eurosafe UK — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:52:42 +0000

I know that a lot of designers find designing in accordance with the CDM Regulations fairly tricky. Most will design out the obvious hazards such as fragile rooflights but then cite a lack of clear guidance on what they should be looking at with regards to the buildability and future maintenance of a building. However when questioned most designers have not heard of the “Red, amber and green” lists that have been put together by HSE. These lists are…………….fantastic! They give very clear guidance for designers on all sorts of key issues such as fire, manhole positions, weights of materials etc. Eurosafe UK will be running free breakfast seminars in our York and Derby offices where we will explain what they are all about and how they can assist designers in their duties. Watch this space for further announcements.