Brogan Group, the Scaffolding and Powered Access Contractor are running a Christmas Game this December where players in the UK and Ireland have a chance to win £150 in Amazon Vouchers operating a Jetpack Santa delivering presents at rooftop level.
Like the Jetpack Santa in the game, which you can play on www.brogangroup.com, Brogan Group are used to operating at rooftop level, but on a more serious note they are matching entries to the game with a £1 donation to their longstanding Construction Charity of choice, The Lighthouse Club.
The Lighthouse Club is the only Construction Charity that provides emotional, physical, and financial wellbeing support to construction workers and their families.
2021 has seen Brogan Group raising £2,000 for the Lighthouse Club with the Brogan initiative, The Tall Building Challenge, clocking up over 2,800km walking or running a set distance based on a multiple of the height of 8 tall buildings Brogan Group have provided access on.
The Lighthouse Club charity specializes in mental health support for construction workers and Brogan Group have recently committed to further supporting its own workers by signing up to the Building Mental Health Charter with Building Mental Health as well as training up a new batch of Mental Health ‘First Aiders’ in November, joining our existing team, to support our office as well as site staff.
Bill Hill CEO of the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity said, “A huge thank you goes out to the Brogan Group for their continued donations through our Company Supporters programme and for their additional fundraising support. We love the idea of a jetpacking Santa so hope everyone will get involved with this great idea!”
Find out more about the Lighthouse Club here https://www.lighthouseclub.org/
Unite leader joins striking scaffolders in Scunthorpe as they enter the ninth week of strike action.
The boss of the leading workers union Unite, Sharon Graham, has shown ‘steadfast support’ for Actavo scaffolders striking at British Steel in Scunthorpe.She joined the picket lines with workers this morning (Wednesday 1 December) who have a long-running dispute with employers over pay. The leader has also called on British Steel, which has the power to intervene and end the row.More than 60 Actavo (UK) scaffolders have been on continuous strike action for nine weeks. Unite says their employers are significantly underpaying the workers and breaks the national agreement that sets fair rates for the job.But Unite says that the client, British Steel, must also take responsibility for this long-running dispute.Credit: Twitter/United ScaffsUnite General Secretary, Sharon Graham said: “The workers on strike have their union’s steadfast support. My priority is to defend Unite members’ jobs, pay and conditions. Actavo and British Steel need to stop playing pass the parcel by blaming each other for underpaying the workers. It’s clear British Steel now needs to come to the negotiating table and resolve this dispute.“Unite will not allow employers to break national agreements and erode workers’ pay for greater profits. We are prepared to fight tooth and nail to stop the race to the bottom.”The dispute, which began in 2019, is a result of the scaffolders not being paid in line with the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI). The rates for the workforce are currently between 10-15 per cent (depending on specific roles) below these rates. The workers maintain 500 scaffolding structures at the British Steel site.
Shorter days, bad weather, increased illnesses with added pressures of a pandemic and Brexit will make winter difficult for many businesses
Now is the time to get your business ready for winter. Have you considered:
Do you need to change your sickness policy to include Covid-19?
Are you continuing to follow Covid-19 measures?
Have you considered the risks of employees working outdoors?
Have you assessed the risks associated with working at height during the winter?
Do you have clear lighting and pathways in the winter months?
Do you know when it is considered unsafe for employees to attend the site?
Now’s the time to watch Alcumus’s winter webinar to get those questions answered
Watch the webinar here: https://www.alcumus.com/en-gb/winter-webinar/Their expert panel
You’ll gain a HR and Health & Safety perspective on each of these and more from our panel
Robin McCloy – Health & Safety Consultant
Anil Champaneri – HR Consultant
Susan Barker – HR Consultant
Cut out the faff
We’re here to help you cut out the faff and our Alcumus Consultants can support you with all your risk assessment needs to help you ensure that they comply with current statutory and regulatory requirements.
Call 01484 439930 or visit www.alcumus.com/faff-free to find out more.
CHAS, the supply-chain risk management expert, has become a registered signatory of Building a Safer Future and is encouraging other members of the built environment sector to do the same.
The Building a Safer Future Charter was launched in response to Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of building regulations and fire safety to instigate the cultural and behavioural changes required to achieve a safer building system. Signatories must make five commitments to prioritise safety first in the built environment. These include:
Collaborate to spearhead culture change and be the voice of building safety across the sector.
Be transparent in the interests of safety, sharing key information with residents, clients, contractors and statutory bodies in a useful and accessible manner in the design, construction and occupation phases of the process.
Make safety a key factor of choice in who they work with, ensuring that building safety is placed at the centre of selection decisions without compromising quality or value for money.
Ensure that the voices and safety of residents, visitors and employees are central to their decision-making process.
Set out and communicate clear responsibilities within their organisation and with their partners, ensuring everyone with a stake in the building during design, construction and occupation understands their role and has the time and resources they need to achieve and maintain building safety.
Any organisations or individuals who work in or have a professional connection or interest in the UK built environment can sign up to the Building a Safer Future Charter. It applies to any organisation involved in pre, during and post-construction activity (including maintenance and residential/community organisations).
CHAS Managing Director, Ian McKinnon, comments: “As an authority and trusted advisor on health and safety compliance, responsible for setting industry benchmarks, CHAS is committed to the continuous improvement of health & safety standards in the UK.“We therefore fully support the commitments set out in the Building a Safer Future Charter and actively encourage our contractors and other members of the construction community to do the same.“The more widely the scheme is embraced, the more successful it will be in driving the culture change required to improve building safety.”
Edinburgh based City Access Scaffolding is celebrating its double success at a major industry awards event in Wales.
The firm took home two of the coveted trophies at the NASC Awards 2021, beating 72 entries from across the UK to win both the Apprentice of the Year award and the Health & Safety Award for firms with fewer than 66 employees.
Established in 2014, City Access Scaffolding (CAS) has grown rapidly, earning a reputation for professionalism and reliability. The firm has secured several significant projects recently, including Edinburgh’s new Gleneagles Townhouse, intricate work on Scottish Government headquarters at St Andrews House and a Historic Environment Scotland contract to provide scaffolding services for sites including the iconic Edinburgh Castle.
Recognising that they operate within a high-risk sector, the company has always placed health and safety at the heart of operations, ensuring that teams and projects are run safely, and with an eye on consistent improvement.
In common with other industries, construction was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. CAS developed a way of working in line with social distancing measures, allowing the team to continue to erect scaffolding safely while adhering to government requirements. A video produced to demonstrate this to their operatives was picked up by a client, global construction specialists ISG Plc and shared to their subcontractors nationally.
Alongside steps to prevent physical injury and death, CAS has long been a champion for mental health among its workforce, mindful of the fact that suicide is the biggest killer of men aged 20-49. CAS Performance Director Kirsty Allan has built a strong relationship with the Joshua Nolan Foundation, with the firm fundraising over £2000 for the Edinburgh-based charity.
All CAS staff are encouraged to reach out if they require support, and through this initiative, several members of the team have been connected with trained counsellors on programmes that develop strategies with the individual to cope with thoughts of suicide or self-harm. The company also offers all staff an 8-week mindfulness course delivered by skilled practitioners from The Mindful Enterprise.
Commenting on the award, CAS QHSE Manager Ryan Scott said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have won this NASC Health & Safety Award. There’s nothing more important to us than ensuring that we can work safely on-site, while also caring for our employee’s wellbeing in a much wider sense. We have close relationships with various services locally and we’ll always act as a link to help staff get any help they need. We look at well-being in a really holistic way, including putting a partnership in place with Capital Credit Union which offers our team a structured way to save money from their weekly wage. All of these things add up to a happier and healthier workforce which is the best way for us to continue to grow in a way that we can be genuinely proud of.”
The second award of the night recognised one of the newer recruits to the CAS team, Adam McLennan, as NASC Apprentice of the Year 2021. NASC judges noted that 22-year-old Adam’s entry stood out in a field of high-calibre submissions, with his work ethic, initiative and selfless attitude shining through.
Commenting on the award, CAS Performance Director Kirsty Allan said: “Adam is organised, efficient and an absolute credit to City Access Scaffolding. He has made a material contribution to the company over a very challenging time for everyone and we couldn’t be prouder of him. We’re looking forward to watching him progress within the industry and are sure he has a bright future ahead of him.”“Not only do we want to help our 8 apprentices to become the best scaffolders they can, be but we also work closely with them all to help navigate their personal lives and development. If people feel happy, safe and supported at work they’ll be more productive and effective so it’s something we take very seriously. We’re excited about what the future holds for City Access Scaffolding and can’t wait to see how our team members continue to grow personally and professionally.”
The 2021 NASC Awards took place at Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, on Friday 19 November 2021, hosted by stand-up comedian Jimmy Carr, and recognised the very best of the UK’s scaffolding industry, marking achievements in seven categories. From a long list of 72 entries, the winners, runners up and highly commended submissions were revealed in front of a packed ballroom of more than 550 guests.
New research shows that almost two-thirds of UK scaffolders enjoy their job and nearly a half of scaffolders say they are proud of the work they do.
The research which forms part of a wider study by IronmongeryDirect shows that tradespeople are significantly more likely to love their jobs than the average working Brit.
UK tradespeople were asked about their level of job satisfaction and found that 56% are happy with their careers, compared to just 37% across all industries.
Additionally, nearly half (47%) of tradespeople are proud of the work they do and around a third say they are happy with both their work-life balance (32%) and level of income (31%).
Tradies were also asked exactly which parts of their work they find the most enjoyable. The most popular answer was interaction with customers (22%), while the ability to continually learn on the job also ranked highly (21%).
The top five things tradespeople enjoy about their work are:
Interacting with customers – 22%
Learning something new – 21%
Working outdoors – 20%
Job variety – 20%
Seeing visible accomplishments each day – 19%
When it comes to individual trades, bricklayers are the most likely tradespeople to say they enjoy their job (69%), but interestingly are also the least likely to feel proud of their work (19%).
Electricians (63%), Plumbers (61%) and Scaffolders (60%) also have really high job satisfaction, while at the other end of the table, building surveyors are the least likely tradespeople to enjoy their work (43%).
Painter decorators and electricians are the most likely tradies to feel a sense of pride about their work (58%).
The study also found that Millennial tradespeople are the least likely to enjoy their job, with only 43% stating that they like their work, whilst those over the age of 65 have the greatest career satisfaction (69%).
More men said they enjoy their job (60%) than women (50%), but women are more likely to be proud of their work (51% vs 45%).
Dominick Sandford, Managing Director at IronmongeryDirect and ElectricalDirect, said: “It’s great to see that so many tradespeople enjoy the work they do, and feel a real sense of accomplishment for their projects. “We’ve always believed that for many tradies, their work isn’t just a job, but truly a passion and a way of life, and that was echoed by the majority of tradespeople in our study.”
The Scaffolding Association has partnered up with CHAS a provider of accreditation services that help businesses to achieve compliance, mitigate supply chain risks and support efficient supply chain management all under one roof.
CHAS’s new Common Assessment Standard can review all aspects of a business’s risk management policies in a single annual audit.
As one of the founders of Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP), CHAS is committed to setting health and safety benchmarks that drive industries forward and make the world of work a safer place.
The partnership will enable Scaffolding Association members to receive a 20% discount on new CHAS accreditation applications and 10% discount on renewals of CHAS accreditations for members that are existing CHAS customers.
Michelle Lee, Partnerships, Channel and Franchise Manager for CHAS, commented on the partnership: “As an authority and trusted advisor on health and safety compliance, CHAS is committed to the continuous improvement of health & safety standards in the UK. We’re delighted to be working with The Scaffolding Association, which demonstrates their commitment to managing health and safety effectively.”
Stacey Underhill, Head of External Affairs at the Scaffolding Association, said: “We’re thrilled to be able to bring this partnership to our members and the associated benefits the partnership will bring. CHAS will enable our members to achieve SSIP compliance using one body, once per year. Joining CHAS will also provide our members with opportunities to access work by connecting them with leading organisations and clients.”
Scaffolders employed by Altrad at the Mitsubishi Chemicals plant in Billingham, Teesside, have called off strike action after accepting a pay deal, Unite the union, said today.
Around 35 scaffolders, insulators and painters, who all work at height at the battery electrolyte and acrylic base chemical plant, will benefit from a pay deal worth at least 10 per cent over two and a half years.
The scaffolders who held strike action on the 4 November were being paid £12.06 an hour when the rate for their job under the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI) is £17.45 an hour.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is an excellent result for our members at Altrad in Billingham and shows what can be achieved when workers stand together in a union.“Unite now does exactly what it says on the trade union tin: fight to defend our members’ jobs, pay and conditions. The inflation-busting pay rise at Altrad, as well as similar victories at other workplaces across the country, shows this approach is paying dividends for Unite members.”
The workers will each receive a £250 one-off payment in their December pay on top of a rise of 2.5 per cent from June 2021.
From January 2022, scaffolders will receive a pay rise ranging from 6.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent, while other trades in the bargaining group will receive a 5 per cent increase. The annual leave for all workers will also increase from 22 days to 25, plus bank holidays.
Rates at the beginning of January 2023 will increase by 2.5 per cent.
Unite regional officer Neil Howells said: “All strikes have now been cancelled and Unite looks forward to working productively with Altrad and Mitsubishi in the future.”“The result at Altrad is another reminder that workers looking to improve their wages and T&Cs should join Unite and get their colleagues to do the same.”
CHAS, the supply chain risk management expert, has announced the launch of a new software product, CHAS RAMS.
CHAS RAMS, powered by HandsHQ, will provide CHAS contractors with a web-based risk assessment and method statement (RAMS) solution.
HandsHQ is the most trusted risk assessment platform for high-risk work, enabling users to create better RAMS in less time, anywhere and on any device, without the need for training or technical expertise.
The cloud-based platform offers a broad library of risk and COSHH assessments covering all specialist contractor activities including electrical, plumbing, HVAC and more. In a matter of minutes, users can create customised risk assessments, tailored to each project.
This new partnership reflects CHAS’ ambitious plans for growth and supports their strategic objective of improving standards of safety in the workplace. By offering customers a platform to create quick and easy project-specific RAMS, CHAS can provide even more innovative risk management support, while helping businesses meet the ever-increasing demand to demonstrate stringent quality, safety and environmental standards.
Ian McKinnon, CHAS Managing Director, comments: “This exclusive arrangement with HandsHQ is the perfect addition to our existing suite of products, providing our customers with a straight-forward process for producing high-quality RAMS. We are also working towards enabling contractors to create and submit RAMS during the accreditation application or renewal process, further simplifying the CHAS accreditation experience.”
Jamie Carruthers, CEO at HandsHQ, says: “We’re thrilled to be working with CHAS to power their new CHAS RAMS offering. We’re excited to help their fast growing member base create a safer work environment with our easy-to-use software which does away with the hassle of inconsistent Word documents.”
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The study also found that Millennial tradespeople are the least likely to enjoy their job, with only 43% stating that they like their work, whilst those over the age of 65 have the greatest career satisfaction (69%).
More men said they enjoy their job (60%) than women (50%), but women are more likely to be proud of their work (51% vs 45%).
Dominick Sandford, Managing Director at IronmongeryDirect and ElectricalDirect, said: “It’s great to see that so many tradespeople enjoy the work they do, and feel a real sense of accomplishment for their projects.
“We’ve always believed that for many tradies, their work isn’t just a job, but truly a passion and a way of life, and that was echoed by the majority of tradespeople in our study.” 
The study also found that Millennial tradespeople are the least likely to enjoy their job, with only 43% stating that they like their work, whilst those over the age of 65 have the greatest career satisfaction (69%).
More men said they enjoy their job (60%) than women (50%), but women are more likely to be proud of their work (51% vs 45%).
Dominick Sandford, Managing Director at IronmongeryDirect and ElectricalDirect, said: “It’s great to see that so many tradespeople enjoy the work they do, and feel a real sense of accomplishment for their projects.
“We’ve always believed that for many tradies, their work isn’t just a job, but truly a passion and a way of life, and that was echoed by the majority of tradespeople in our study.” 
