Latest Site Operating Procedures place ‘workers at risk’ warns Unite
Construction union Unite has sent an open letter to the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), warning that the organisation’s site operating procedures (SOP) are placing workers at risk.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began the various versions of the CLC’s operating procedures have acted as a template for safe site operation with the latest version of the SOP, (version 4) published last week. The union has said it is primarily concerned about the section which deals with Work Planning to Avoid Close Working which states: “If you are not able to work while maintaining a two-metre distance, you should consider whether the activity should continue.” It goes on to say “that management should minimise the frequency and time workers are within two metres of each other.”Social distancing vital
Unite has called for site work to be planned in a way that allows social distancing to be maintained with appropriate protection for workers on the very rare occasions when this is not possible and working within two metres of each other cannot be avoided. However, the SOP version four says: “Workplaces should not encourage the precautionary use of extra PPE to protect against Coronavirus (COVID-19).” The union says that it will not support any guidance that could deny construction workers the appropriate PPE.PPE concerns
In the open letter to the CLC, Unite construction officer Jerry Swain states: “The SOP could and should be revised to explicitly state that the job should not be undertaken without appropriate PPE, which of course would include masks.” Unite also raises a similar concern about more than one person travelling together in a work vehicle and says that if two metre social distancing cannot be maintained then “workers should be supplied with an appropriate mask which must be worn”.CLC vital role
Commenting, Jerry Swain said: “Since the pandemic began, the CLC has become the go to place for construction sites trying to operate and keep workers safe. “It is essential that the information in the site operating procedures is clear, comprehensive and complete. As the procedures are currently written, the health of workers is placed at risk. “Unite has been constructive in the development of these procedures throughout and has fed its views into the CLC. It is imperative that the CLC ends the confusion and republishes revised procedures. “No one should be required to work within two metres of someone else on a construction site and on the extremely rare occasion when this is simply not possible then the full appropriate PPE must be issued. It is also essential workers are fully trained in the safe usage of this equipment. “Our industry is under the spotlight; now is the time for the CLC to show leadership and do the right thing by workers. I truly hope, for the sake of our workers’ health and the battle against the spread of this virus that Unite receives a positive response from the CLC.”HAKI BIM Design Tool Available For Free
HAKI is offering a free trial period of its advanced design tool, HAKI BIM, until July 2020. New users will be able to experience and benefit from the software completely free of charge during May and June.
The HAKI BIM plugin to Autodesk Revit® has been specifically developed for scaffold designers and engineers, to speed up the temporary access design process and accuracy for complex projects; ultimately reducing lead times for clients and risk of project delay in temporary works.
HAKI BIM simplifies design of 3D models, using the full range of HAKI products and components. The tool uses automation for timesaving, whilst ensuring depth and accuracy in design; resulting in solutions that are safe and fit for purpose to avoid issues later in build.
Exact quantification, weights, and basic loadings are also automatically generated by the HAKI BIM software. This enables planning of logistics and space requirements in the early stages of a project.
Alongside clear operational benefits, HAKI BIM offers superior quality presentations to customers by adding realistic rendering and sharing through Autodesk Viewer® for live collaboration and exploration. Models also integrate with AR & VR tools, such as the HAKI Playground, to give stakeholders the opportunity to explore solutions in real-life environments prior to build.
Mattias Kuduk, VDC and innovation manager at HAKI, commented: “For the temporary works industry, BIM is enabling internal and external design engineers to produce complex 3D scaffolding blueprints for simple structures. Unlike 2D CAD drawings, 3D modelling produces detailed designs in far less time and with more reliability.
“Designers can reap these benefits with the HAKI Design Tool and HAKI BIM. The former design tool enables designers to configure basic scaffolding designs on a cloud-based platform – Inventor iLogic and Configurator 360 from Autodesk – and the latter advances this configuration onto Revit for greater customisation and capability for more complex projects, enabling further interaction with the components within the 3D model.”
Engineers and designers can subscribe for their free trial here.
Construction Output To Drop 25% This Year
Total construction output in Great Britain is expected to fall by 25% during 2020, according to the Construction Products Association.
The anticipated decline in output is one of three scenarios for construction output examined by the CPA. Even under this most optimistic of scenarios, the country’s construction activity would suffer its sharpest fall ever recorded. The pause to construction work as a result of Covid-19 social distancing measures is the main cause of the fall, with 60% of planned construction output lost in April due to the measures. The loss to construction output in April varies across sectors and nations, with an estimated 83% of work in Scotland lost due to more stringent lockdown measures, 85% of house building lost and 60% of non-residential new build lost. The story is equally bleak for residential repairs, maintenance and improvements works where 60% of work was lost, concentrated mainly in the ‘improvements’ element. The non-residential repair and maintenance sector saw only a 20% loss of activity, as work to repair largely un-used buildings and infrastructure such as roads and schools was brought forward. The CPA has developed a series of scenarios to assess the impact of Covid-19 on construction output, given that the full effects of the pandemic are so wide-ranging and lack precedents. The full impact on the UK economy and construction will only become clear once the duration and severity of social distancing requirements in apparent, along with the effects this has on demand. The most optimistic scenario is based on a ‘V’-shaped recession affecting primarily the second half of March, April and May, followed by a recovery from June at a slower pace than the initial decline. The other scenarios include a W-shaped recession (a second wave of infection and lockdown in 2020 Q4 and subsequent recovery in 2021 Q1) and a U-shaped recession (continued restrictions throughout 2020 and a slow recovery in 2021 as businesses and consumers come out of it highly risk-averse). Commenting on the Spring Scenarios, the CPA’s Economics Director, Noble Francis, said, “The greatest impacts of the lockdown in construction were seen in the private housing sector. Returns to site in May will focus on partially completed developments rather than new starts as house builders are expected to be very cautious given uncertainty regarding demand. This uncertainty will also keep the recovery muted in commercial offices, industrial factories and the most-severely affected sub-sector, commercial retail. “A more positive outlook is expected for infrastructure activity thanks to a greater ability to implement safe distancing for workers on larger sites but also, vitally, thanks to HS2 being given the go ahead to proceed. An increase in activity from the five-year investment programmes within regulated sectors such as water and sewerage, roads and rail also adds to this more positive story. “For the fortunes of construction more generally, though, the near-term effect of Covid-19 on the economy and employment are likely to be considerably greater than those faced during the financial crisis of 2008/09. In addition to these issues around the general economy and construction demand, productivity on site has fallen significantly due to social distancing and other safety, which means that construction activity will take longer and cost more. Even in our most optimistic scenario, construction output bounces back by 25.5% in 2021 but, with growth starting from a low base, output will still be 6% lower than in 2019. Combined with the high levels of uncertainty on demand, getting levels of construction back to pre-Coronavirus levels will take time. Expect a long slog ahead.”Coventry Scaffolding Plants 70 New Trees For Its 70th Birthday
Scaffold contractor and Royal Warrant Holder, Coventry Scaffolding, is celebrating its 70th birthday this year.
As part of a year of celebrations, the London and south-east scaffolding company are pledging to plant 70 trees – one for each year they have been operating – to mark the occasion. The trees will be planted in partnership with The Woodland Trust, the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity. “Ensuring that our work is sustainable has always been one of the core pillars of the business,” said Coventry co-director Perry Hanifan. “We do everything we can to try and reduce our environmental impact, including sourcing our scaffolding boards from a PEFC-certified supplier and recycling materials wherever possible. For our 70th anniversary, we wanted to go even further by replenishing some of the resources we’ve used over the years and, considering the current situation with COVID-19, we wanted to focus on doing something positive for the future. Trees are often seen as a symbol of hope, regeneration and new beginnings, which is what we all need right now.” For Perry and his brother Paul, who took over the business in the 90s from their father Pat Hanifan, scaffolding has always been a family affair. Pat was encouraged to start his own scaffolding firm back in 1950 by his brother, Maurice, and was only able to set up due to the financial support of five other Hanifan siblings. He used the money to purchase a second-hand lorry and the materials he needed to begin work, setting up as ‘Coventry Scaffolding’ to show solidarity with a city in desperate need of construction after suffering badly in the bombings of WWII. In the 70 years that have followed the business has gone from strength to strength, with projects for iconic historical London buildings and monuments like Nelson’s Column, Natural History Museum, V&A, Queen Victoria Memorial, Tower of London and Harrods, to name just a few. Coventry has also become synonymous with refurbishing government buildings, becoming the go-to company for work in and around Whitehall, the Houses of Parliament and the Royal Palaces. This was recognised in 2005, when it was awarded the Royal Warrant by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. After 40 years of working on projects at Buckingham Palace, becoming the first scaffolding company in the UK to be granted this honour remains one of Coventry’s proudest moments. A further highlight in recent years was an award for NASC ‘Project of the Year’ in 2018 for the company’s scaffolding on the ‘Mastaba’ – a floating art installation on the Serpentine in London’s Hyde Park by world-renowned artist, Christo. The enormous structure, formed of 7,506 horizontally stacked barrels, required the Coventry team to spend a month in Bulgaria working on a small-scale version that was trialled in the Black Sea, before beginning its larger counterpart in London. Heading into its 70th anniversary year, Coventry Scaffolding is recognised as one of the longest-standing members of the NASC and one of the oldest independent scaffold companies in England. Perry said, “We’re incredibly proud to have made it to 70 years – it’s a real achievement. Looking to the future, there are younger Hanifans involved in the business so it may pass on to the third generation, but hopefully Paul and I will be around to see it reach 100. We recognise that this year and next will present unprecedented challenges for the whole industry but because of the way we have managed the business in the past, we hope to emerge from this period even stronger than before and look forward to working alongside our current and future clients for many more years.”HSE Restarts Site Inspections
The Health and Safety Executive has announced it’s resuming with construction site inspections.
As the construction industry in England begins to return to work after lockdown the HSE has announced its resuming site inspections. The regulator has said it’s adjusting the focus of its activities including visits to business premises and sites which will be conducted in line with social distancing regulations and guidelines. The HSE’s activities will continue to be guided by the specific requirements and characteristics of the sectors it regulates and in line with advice from the UK Government and Public Health Bodies. The HSE has stated it will:- continue to work closely with, and across, industry sectors to enable businesses to put practical measures in place to help people get back to work safely, while remaining compliant with public health and health and safety at work requirements
- will carry out work to check that appropriate measures are in place to protect workers from COVID-19
- will resume targeted proactive inspection work of high-risk industries
- will continue with, and will build on, our re-prioritised regulatory approach to key critical areas and activities in major hazard offshore oil and gas and onshore chemical, explosives and microbiological industries using remote techniques in conjunction with site visits, including conducting visits offshore
- will continue to undertake regulatory activities which do not require site visits as normally as possible, for example Approvals and Authorisation work for biocides and pesticides, Statutory Permissioning activities such as Licensing, Safety Case / Report Assessments, Thorough Reviews, Combined Operations Notifications, Wells Notifications, Land Use Planning Applications, Hazardous Substances Consents etc
- continue to investigate work related deaths across all industry sectors, the most serious major injuries and dangerous occurrences and reported concerns, including those related to social distancing and COVID-19. In such cases we will continue to secure compliance with the law, and conduct our investigations using a mixture of technology, without compromising the collection of evidence and our ability to secure effective control of risk, and site visits.
Safety & Access Set To Restart Training
Safety & Access is poised to reopen after implementing a raft of COVID-19 safety measures at its UK centres.
The Nottingham and Immingham based scaffolding training provider has developed strict procedures for training including regular temperature checks for all candidates as well as clear guidelines on social distancing, hygiene, and welfare requirements. The training firm has said it will be taking a limited number of bookings that will commence from the 1st of June. However, due to social distancing requirements, the maximum numbers allowed for each course will be at a significantly reduced level. Its looking to give priority to its existing customers that had courses postponed during the initial lockdown period first choice for the scheduled training. The Safety & Access offices are now open with a limited number of staff to deal with outstanding enquiries on qualifications and general requests. Rick Statham Safety & Access joint Managing Director told ScaffMag: “We are pleased to confirm that we will be offering limited training support for our customers from June at our Nottingham and Immingham training centres. The safety of staff and customers is our highest priority and we have developed and implemented precautions and guidelines to ensure that risks are reduced and are in accordance with government and industry guidelines. We have received clear intentions from our customers that ongoing training is critical and we are doing our utmost to meet those needs. Due to important social distancing requirements, our candidate numbers will be significantly reduced and we will be working to ensure the best available support service.” The CISRS registered scaffold training provider has been closed since 24th March.Caspian Receives Support With £1M Barclays Loan
Scaffolding and access equipment supplier Caspian Group has received £1M in funding to help support the business through the COVID-19 crisis.
The Scunthorpe based scaffolding hire and sales business today announced it has received support from Barclays through the Government-backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Scheme (CBILS) in order to maintain the ability to trade through the COVID-19 crisis. Established in 1992, Caspian Group Limited is located at East Common Lane, Scunthorpe. The company is a leading supplier of scaffolding and access equipment. Trading globally, their equipment is being used in major overseas developments as well as across the UK. The £1million funding from Barclays CBIL scheme has enabled the company to continue with operational costs throughout the COVID-19 period. Barclays has also recently helped scaffolding supplier George Roberts NW with the Government-backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Scheme. Neil Garrison, Managing Director, Caspian Group Limited said: “We’ve been growing organically since we started out in 1992 and have worked alongside Barclays for many years. They recently funded more land so that we could build an additional facility for our rapid expansion plans so understandably they were our first port of call when we knew we had to make some big changes to our operations to get us through this challenging period. We submitted an application and the money was in our account just a few days later. The loan gives us certainty on our immediate cash flow requirements and ensures that we will be here for our customers after the lockdown finishes.” Chris Rushworth, Barclays Relationship Director put together the funding package for the deal and said: “We have worked with Neil and his team for many years, and we spent time looking at their specific requirements before putting together an application that would get them through this tough period. For any business, there’s a lot of moving parts, and now we’re confident they have the financial headroom to get through this disruptive period and be ready to reopen fully when the time comes.” Caspian Group Limited employs 47 people locally and turnover for the year is expected to exceed £15million.Coronavirus Site Operating Guidance Updated For Fourth Time
The Construction leadership Council has scrapped the 15-minute limit for contact between construction workers in its latest version of the coronavirus site operating procedures.
The fourth version of the document which was published on Tuesday has been updated to incorporate a number of technical changes following the recently published government guidance on Working Safely during Coronavirus (Covid-19). One major u-turn within the guidance is the removal of the requirement for face-to-face contact to be kept to 15 minutes or less. The section on PPE now also links to the latest Government guidance on face coverings. Other changes include:- References to one-way systems and the reconfiguration of seating and tables and an update on portable toilets
- The requirement to share risk assessments with the workforce
- Clarification on when to travel to work, as set out in the Government’s COVID-19 Recovery Strategy
- Updated links and wording on social distancing
75 Years of Layher
This year marks the 75th anniversary of one of the world’s finest company exponents of scaffolding. Given all of their incredible achievements, ScaffMag takes a closer look at Layher in a year like no other.
From the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower to the Northern Black Forest National Park, The Duvha Power Plant to the Duisberg Rollercoaster structure, and the world-renowned Elizabeth Tower aka Big Ben, the world has been blessed by the expertise of Layher.Leading The Way
Wilhelm Layher GmbH & Co KG explained: “This year we can celebrate the 75th anniversary of our company. We’re very happy about that – and proud of it too. But this anniversary for Layher has only been possible because our customers have been putting their trust in us every day – in some cases already in the third generation. “We have quite deliberately chosen the motto “75 years of future” for our company anniversary. After all, our orientation towards the future is one of the key factors in Layher’s success. Nevertheless, such a special event as the company’s 75th anniversary naturally invites us to pause for a moment and celebrate this milestone in our company history together. “Every single person contributes to Layher’s success day after day at his or her workplace. We would, therefore, like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts: for your great commitment. For your competent and conscientious cooperation. And for your loyalty to Layher.”A Driven Aim
The aim of Layher has always been the success of its customers, in close partnership and never in competition to them. But there’s little doubt their innovative system solutions are a key focus of product development. Take the Aluminium FlexBeam for example – following the award of the French innovation prize “MAT D’OR” in the “Equipment and Tools” category, the Layher FlexBeam was also given the accolade of “Innovation of the Year” at the annual ball of the UK’s “National Access and Scaffolding Confederation” (NASC) in front of more than 700 guests.
Stairway Specialists
Layher also provides, with some supplementary parts to its Allround Scaffolding System the globally requested and therefore accepted emergency stairways. These innovative escape stairtowers satisfy all legal requirements of width and load-bearing capacity, as well as human and material safety. Extremely environmentally aware, Layher has an energy efficiency 10-year goal involving 10% lower energy consumption per unit produced. This also includes selective planning in production to reduce CO2 emissions, the selection and acquisition of ecologically sustainable raw materials – only those suppliers with ISO certificates are picked. Only machinery from the highest energy efficiency class is used, with technologies and efficient processes in the production ensuring preservation of resources and of course top product quality. The list goes on.
Impressive Awareness
Layher has always acted with awareness and attention to economic and ecological sustainability both in its products and working processes. In terms of social responsibility towards clients, employees and society as a whole, they really have been first class. Layher explains: “We’d like to create more possibilities for you with innovative system solutions within the framework of the Layher Lightweight philosophy. This offers more safety, more ergonomics and above all more profitability at the site. High-quality products in conjunction with the generation-spanning compatibility of Layher systems, provides protection to customers’ investments, no matter which generation of product they purchased. “We can present competent advice, detailed technical documentation, training and seminars, plus support in the issue of digitalisation with Layher SIM and the integrated software solution LayPLAN SUITE.”
