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Posted By al wood
is anyone else experiencing the following;
specialist construction contractor with excellent systems in place ISO 9001, ISO14001, OHSAS 18001 has also won numerous health & safety awards and employs all cards in employees. undertakes work for the majority of MCG companies is now having to tender against much smaller companies with little or no SMS in place no quality managements sytems in place and uses sub contract labour only.
yet the HSE are stating that even though we are in recession we should not be cutting corners with regards to health & safety.
comments please
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Posted By Paul Clarke-Scholes CMIOSH
Been there.
Recently lost several jobs where competitors undercut us by 30% or more. Clients think that a half million pound saving on a one and a half million pound job gives them room to spend 200K on managing and beating up the fool who just bought the work.
They may be right, but so much for my 9, 14 and 18 registrations!
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Posted By Paul
Who said life is more important than MONEY ?
Who's creating potential injury/fatality here,
honest contractor or client? well there is
the big R on for everybody. We wont be the
only one's out there that's for sure.
I just wonder where the fingers & the knifes are pointing if the time bomb explodes? URRM.
Name & shame irresponsible companies, well
what about naming clients who need the
work done but at a price far lower than the
level playing contractor has priced.
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Posted By steven bentham
Al
Has this not always been the case?
What do you think is needed to ensure common minimum standards of safety are achieved?
Regards
Steve
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Posted By al wood
its pretty annoying when you get told by certain clients that you and everyone else MUST have certain accreditaions/certification such as the ones i have mentioned earlier add to that others such as achilles, CHAS, constructionline etc, etc and then 12 months on the very same client moves the goalposts so that the so called smaller companies dont have to follow these guidelines.
there was mention of one particular client/P.C. in one of the construction magazines a few weeks ago relating to a job on the olympics i think.
it just smells to me as if the clients are out to make a fast buck and safety is compromised.
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Posted By steven bentham
Al
So what would you suggest can be done to change this?
Steve
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Posted By al wood
steve
you appear to have asked the same question twice rather than posting any comments you may have.
surely some form of mandatory pre qualification scheme / health and safety minimum standards charter endorsed by the government and the HSE would be a step forward, thus creating a level playing field.
any comments steve?
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Posted By steven bentham
Al
Yes, I have asked the same question twice.
Not because of my poor keyboard skills, but because I work in construction and see first hand when things go "belly up". Sometimes its worth asking questions, and you have asked an important one, so I'll add some more to it:
(1) Construction firms are very different in size, level of risk, how they employ people, different clients etc.
Do you think one 'safety approach' will work?
(2) The initiatives you have outlined may work for bigger firms; but what works for smaller firms?
(3) HSE state that the number of HSE inspectors inspecting construction will go up to 180, which is what it was a few years ago!!
Do you think we have enough HSE inspectors for front line construction inspections?
(4) Will CDM make clients do better?
(5) In general the construction industry seems to struggle to take the views employees. [I was told of a site in the North West of England paying construction workers £25 a day, take it or leave it!].
We seem to be awash with CDM paperwork and compliance systems, contractor checks, CDM(C's) but you can take a view that there has been little improvement in UK construction for it. Construction site huts are full of paperwork and CDM files [I guess I will not win support from those who earn a living by pushing the paperwork].
Despite this I actually agree with some of what you say about a level playing field, but perhaps not with the paper-work etc to achieve it.
I offer a view; legislation without effective means to enforce it and reliance on self regulation goes out the window in hard times.
HSE, IOSH, APS, CDM Coordinators - watch the accident statistics get worse!!!
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Posted By al wood
steve
i too work in construction
i agree with your comments,
however, the smaller contractors are bound by the same legislation as the larger ones. far too often i have seen a contractor appointed purely cause they are the cheapest but they had no safety management systems in place what so ever and no competent person as required by the management regs.
my point being if there was a level playing field this type of scenario would not happen.
i like the idea of the CHAS accreditation scheme and unlike some of the other schemes does not cost the earth.
i suppose at the end of the day cash is king and some clients and P.Cs are willing to run the risk
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