GRAND DESIGNS - AM I SKANSKA'ISED??

[hobbles]

Evening all, well Saturday night and just watching some Grand Designs.
Having been in Contracting for over 20 years and in most recent years many SKANSKA sites I cant help but gasp with amazement at the lack of Health &Safety on programmes such as Grand Designs etc.

No PPE, no fall protection on open aspects, unshoored excavations and the list goes on.

My wife thinks I am sad and laughs at me. Tell me I am not alone out there and others share my concerns??

Now I realise that domestic builds etc are a little more relaxed than a PFI Major build but surely if there is a Main Contractor appointed and the numbers on site require CDM to be in place how do they get away with it.

When does a site/build have to be HSE registered? I know they can be visited and pohibitions served.

I personally dont feel comfortable on a site where trainers are the norm and the most important power supply on the job is for the radio, and that is 230v fed from an adjacent building.

Yes that was an actual site with a main contractor and a site manager that didnt have owt to do with us, 'Well you know what your doing dont you?'. Same tw*t later spotted at top of a triple extender ladder fixing downpipe with no one footing them.

Just back me up lads and lassess that I am not alone with my concerns.

 

[joinerjohn]

I can understand the need for H&S to be followed rigorously on major building sites, but on self builds, I'm sure the rules can be a bit more relaxed, specially if there are only a few bods working on site.
I used to work on building sites some years ago, when H&S started going daft. "This is a hard hat area !" What? working indoors on a nearly completed house fixing skirting boards and hanging doors? Yes I can understand the need for hard hats in areas where stuff is likely to fall on you, but some sites enforced the ruling to such an extent, you couldn't take your hard hat off even if you were sat in the portaloo. I saw something the other day where H&S had gone over the top. A chap driving a dumper truck, and some clown had to walk in front of him to where the spoil was dumped , then walk back, in front of the dumper again. Just to make sure the speed limit was obeyed. Wasn't even on a main road which public had access to. The chap operating the JCB had time to do the Times crossword and eat his sandwiches before the dumper got back. All this every 15 minutes!. And I bet the gaffer wondered why work was taking so long.
Safety footwear too. Have you ever noticed that, if you do drop something, it never falls on the steel toecap part of your boots? Always falls either straight on top of your foot or just a bit to the side and still hurts like hell.

Even the security guys on building sites have to have a CSCS card these days. What's that all about? Even the security who keep watch at night time have to have one.
I dunno,,, Used to be said some years ago that if it was up to H&S, nothing would ever get done on site. Today, that statement is almost becoming a reality.

 

[danechip]

Safety footwear too. Have you ever noticed that, if you do drop something, it never falls on the steel toecap part of your boots? Always falls either straight on top of your foot or just a bit to the side and still hurts like hell.

Yes LOL. S0ds law?

 

[Daz66]

H&S is not required on 'domestic' builds, I found this out when doing my IOSH safety course!!

It does amaze me that it isn't necessary on domestic stuff because half of the builder you see are dozy sods and the lads they employ usually spend most of the day friggin about throwing things at each other!

The H&S culture has gone mad, I was recently in London walking past a ground floor office that was being cleaned and finished off and all of the blokes were in High Viz and hard hats........WHY???? There was even a young woman walking round with a clip board wearing the stuff. There was no danger of anything falling from height as no one was working above waist height, there were no steps/ladders ceiling access works going on so no worry there and the woman with the clipboard was looking at drawings so what was the risk there???

Where I live we have just had a risk assessment carried out on the flats and the safety guy has mentioned the windows in the communal areas require child safety locks, there are NO children living or visiting the flats so why is it necessary..........because someone can make money out of it, if someone comes in a lets a child fall out of a first floor window we will be sued, thats why and everyone wants to cover their ar$es...........and if we go ahead and fit them someone will take a couple of hundred quid out of our pockets.

H&S does have a place, no one wants to injure someone, however whoever is in charge needs to do a proper risk assessment, if nothing is going to fall from a height why wear a hard hat?????

 

[Deluks]

It does amaze me that it isn't necessary on domestic stuff because half of the builder you see are dozy s***s and the lads they employ usually spend most of the day friggin about throwing things at each other!

Building work is relatively expensive in Surrey, ever wondered why?

 

[oasistechnical]

this thread reminds me of a site i worked on in London;

it was the Central Office of Information, the bods who design the `have you locked your car` stuff.

we were on the second floor, one side of this floor was offices with computers, staff etc, the other side was a building site, we accessed via a service area, and stairwell,
they accessed via the front door, stairwell and lift,
we could not use the hallway between the offices, so there was no contamination.

all us contractors were in hard hat, boots, hi vis, etc full CDM
not really a problem.

i had to acess the hallway, so signed the relevant `permit to work, after half an hour of gibberish!

access said hallway and looked into the used offices ....
to find all the staff had hi vis, hard hats and boots on!!!!!!!!

now that was sooooooo funny, i couldn't get the job done that i was supposed to be doing!!!!

now that was H&S gone made, but you have to remember this was a GOVERNMENT building!!!

says it all really!!

Oasis

 

[sparkydude]

We have probably worked alongside each other on these SKANSKA sites as we too have been based on many of their projects ,
derby hospital
lowdham grange
dovegate
cambridge fire control
raf wyton
kingsmill hospital
and walsall manor hospital

Admittedly their health and safety policies are excellent however i will never understand the step permit system, you can use steps on site as long as you have had a permit signed by a project director. Podium steps are not a problem , apart from the fact that they are cumbersome, heavy ,dangerous to operate, and a finger trap to mention a few.

They need to re-look at this part of their health and safety i feel as i kow not one person who has had an accident using step ladders in over 15 years in the game .

But yes these shows do show a distict lack of health and safety ,and even some would say common sense sometimes.


Nick

 

[ChapiTheBricky]

you're "skanska-ised" (i like this term by the way), i served my time working for a small builder where our h&s policy was don't "do anything daft, don't act like a **** and you'll be alright" when it was time for me to fly the nest and start making some "real money" (this was a few years ago obviously) i couldn't believe the level of h&s on skanka's site, quite excessive if you ask me. No-one wants anyone to get hurt on a building site, but i think that sites like skanska make no provisions for common sense.

 

[Donkmeister]

No PPE, no fall protection on open aspects, unshoored excavations and the list goes on.

Last episode I saw, they had to delay something while they moved the fall-arrest airbags! Although, the architect/project manager/owner (same person) on that one was used to commercial builds, so that was probably his usual working practices.