10 INDUSTRY NEWS
Construction workers in “needless” danger
Construction workers are facing needless dangers in the workplace, according to Unite, the construction union, in response to a recent survey published by Direct Line for Business.
The survey found that there were 196 fatal accidents and 26,196 non-fatal incidents in the construction industry in the last five years. The most common form of injury recorded were slips, trips and falls, accounting for 28 per cent of the total number of accidents.
It also found that the number of prosecu- tions being taken by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in construction had substantially declined. There were 246 cases taken in 2015/16, and 206 in 2016/17, a fall of 16 per cent. Responding to the figures, Unite has called for employers to ‘start taking workers safety seriously,’ as Unite assistant general secretary, Gail Cartmail, explains: “The sharp decrease in HSE prosecutions is deeply troubling. The best deterrent against unscrupulous employers cutting safety is the fear that they will be caught and prosecuted.”
CITB must continue to tackle skills shortages, says NFB
The Construction Skills Fund (CSF) has awarded more than £20m for 26 projects in England to support the development of on- site construction “training hubs”. Tasked
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with tackling the skills shortage, seven infrastructure and 19 housing hubs will train up to 17,000 people to become site and employment ready by March 2020. While the progress has been well- received by the company, the National Federation of Builders (NFB) believes The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) can go further. The 26 projects based across England are
reportedly all unique in their scope, and focus on the specific needs of individual project ambitions. For example, a hub next to Luton airport will train staff to deliver the Luton Direct Rail to Air Transit (DART). In Hampshire, on-site and off-site venues in key locations aim to provide a geographical spread of training in housebuilding. Welcoming this targeted approach to
specific skill shortages, the NFB has reported that it hopes the CITB will continue making headway to support other construction roles that are deficient, and are currently outside the scope of the CITB levy. Richard Beresford, chief executive of
the NFB, said: “We can only tackle the construction skills crisis by ensuring that training supports more people into the industry. “Training hubs are a good way to do that,
but we must also make sure that trades such as electrical, heating and plumbing are brought into scope of the CITB levy.” The CSF is funded by the Department for Education, and was launched by the Construction Industry Training Board.
of a development, from assessing project viability and submitting planning applications, through the whole construc- tion process to closeout and management of dormant sites, with an emphasis on dealing with land contamination.
Housing delivery level hits 222,000 in 2018
Guidance for brownfield sites launched by CIRIA
New guidance has been published on how to overcome barriers to small brownfield site development. ‘A guide to small brownfield sites and land contamination,’ prepared by CIRIA and supported by the NHBC Foundation, is intended to provide practical advice to help landowners, developers and builders navigate the barrier and issues surrounding small brownfield sites.
Development of brownfield land is a key
part of the Government’s strategy to increase housebuilding across the country, and if well planned and managed, small sites can be developed relatively quickly, reportedly giving a faster return on invest- ment than larger sites.
The guide focuses on the key phases
A total of 222,000 new homes were deliv- ered between 2017 and 2018 in England, figures published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have revealed. According to the report ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’, this figure represents the highest level of new homes delivered across England in all but one of the last 31 years, and brings the total number of additional homes delivered since 2010 to 1.3 million.
The Government believes that this indicates the industry is on track to deliver its 300,000 homes a year target. “Today’s figures are great news and show another yearly increase in the number of new homes delivered, but we are deter- mined to do more to keep us on track to deliver the homes communities need,” said Communities Secretary James Brokenshire. “That’s why we have set out an
ambitious package of measures to deliver 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s. This includes over £44bn of investment, rewriting the planning rules and scrapping the borrowing cap so councils can deliver a new generation of council housing.”
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