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HEALTH & SAFETY | NASC YEARBOOK 2012
SAFETY GUIDANCE ADVANCES ON ALL FRONTS
Statistics indicate a drop in safety incidents showing the positive impact the work of the NASC is having, says Kevin Ward
2011 has been another busy year for the Health and Safety Committee. Under my chairmanship the main bulk of our time has been taken up working on the production of several new safety guidance notes and also other existing safety guidance notes that were due for review. The NASC has continued to strengthen its links with other key industry stakeholders, notably the UKCG, where it is represented on the UKCG Health & Safety Working Group.
New guidance To give an overview of the scope of some of the work that the committee has been undertaking this year, listed below is a summary of new and updated safety guidance notes that are intended for publication during 2011:
SG5:11 – Overhead Power Lines (Updated Revision) SG32:11– Guidance on the Provision of Inside Board Brackets (New) SG33:11 – Loading Bays/Loading Bay Gates (New) SG34:11 – Protection of the Public (New) SG35:11 – Handover of Scaffold Structures (New) SG36:11 – Unauthorised Modifications to Scaffolding (New)
Although it is satisfying to see the positive impact that the work of the
Health & Safety Committee is having on the NASC’s own members, it is also worth noting that all this best practice guidance is made readily available not just to the NASC’s regulated members but also to other non-regulated scaffolding companies, the HSE and other interested parties.
Knowing what to ask In response to a high demand from industry, we published this year a free scaffolding specification document intended to provide guidance for all organisations (or individuals) who are responsible for appointing, monitoring or managing scaffolding contractors. Produced specifically for clients,
site/project managers, agents, surveyors, CDM co-ordinators, estimators, planners and designers, the document provides detailed industry requirements on the current best practice for scaffolding contractors prior to working on site and what expectations are required once work has commenced. This document is also suitable as
a protocol template for all scaffolding works and could be used to accompany any tender or pre-qualification document. The risk of an accident or injury to either operatives or the general public can be greatly reduced by factually knowing what to demand from your
scaffolding contractor at every stage of the process. The guidance document is available
free on request. Email enquiries@nasc.
org.uk
Training DVDS Looking ahead, the committee’s agenda for 2012 will be to complete the review of all the guidance notes that have exceeded their five year review cycle and to develop any new guidance as and when the need arises. The committee will also be producing a manual handling training DVD based on the NASC guidance note SG6:10 (manual handling in the scaffolding industry) to be utilised by members and non-members alike as part of the induction process for new starters and also as a refresher tool for existing employees.
Figures tell it all Finally a message to any existing or potential customers of the scaffolding industry who may be questioning the added value that may or may not be gained by nominating the use of ‘regulated’ scaffolding contractors such as the NASC members on their sites. In terms of Health & Safety, I would ask them to consider the valuable data and information that is published in the NASC’s annual safety report where the actual positive impact of the association’s work can be seen where it matters most, and that is in the accident statistics comparison between NASC members and the other non-regulated, non-member scaffolding contractors, which clearly speaks for itself!
The NASC’s Annual Safety report can be viewed via at
http://nasc.org. uk/Safety_Reports or alternatively a free printed copy can be posted on request. Email
enquiries@nasc.org.uk
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