FEATURE
SUPPLY CHAIN SAFETY
Luke Baker, Managing Director of LEB Construction, discusses the need for all elements of the delivery chain to implement best practice health and safety protocols on construction sites.
Health and safety should always be a top priority for all organisations involved in any aspect of construction. Construction was one of the few industries that saw an increase in the number of fatal workplace injuries in 2020 and it remains second in the league table for workplace injuries, behind agriculture, forestry and fishing. The sector also has significantly higher rates of musculoskeletal injury and poor mental health than other sectors.
Over the past 18 months, the responsibility to implement safe working practices and maintain good physical and mental health for construction operatives has been more urgent and complex than ever. Contractors have had to keep both site personnel and the public safe from COVID-19, while continuing to manage the hazards and risk inherent in the programme.
As a main contractor, LEB Construction is often also the designated principal contractor, which involves responsibility for all aspects of site safety. This includes ensuring risk assessments and method statements are thorough, as well as implementing measurable health and safety policies and practices. It also includes adjusting health and safety protocols in response to any changes – such as adverse weather conditions, for example, or revisions to the scope of works.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the need to respond in real time to changing health and safety considerations has never been greater. Not only have we needed to modify site set-up to enable social distancing, sanitisation and one-way systems, there has also been a need for health screening, avoiding bottlenecks in restroom facilities and preventing unnecessary visitors coming to site.
Even more challenging than these requirements, perhaps, has been adjusting to unknowns. Changing lockdown restrictions and the potential for workers to be absent from site due to infection, or track and trace self-isolation requests, has created the potential for teams to be short-handed, which can create gaps in safe supervision or unsafe site behaviours in order to avoid falling behind schedule. The peak of the pandemic is now – hopefully behind us – but the need to be vigilant and the potential for staff absences due to self-isolation remain.
It is across all these scenarios that the role of the principal contractor is not simply to impose health and
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safety best practice, but to actively collaborate and communicate with all supply chain partners. Only then can a genuine safety culture be delivered consistently throughout the site. Where necessary, that must include flagging any challenges with the client and building additional time into the programme to enable both quality assurance and safety best practice. Even when the project in question is the refurbishment of an occupied building, or requires handover within a mission-critical deadline, accountability for health and safety at every level is essential and should be integral to a best value delivery model.
With a problem-solving approach, an experienced team and effective collaboration, it should be possible to avoid the cost and disruption of over-runs by identifying issues early and putting measures in place to maintain progress, quality and safety. By nurturing the trust and confidence of all supply chain partners, we keep the client up to speed and call on the expertise of all involved to find solutions to safety challenges and avoid both risk and delays.
At LEB Construction, we have been very fortunate to work in a region of Wales that has avoided the spikes in COVID-19 cases that have affected some areas of the UK, but effective health and safety management is not just about responding quickly; it’s also about anticipating risk. A collaborative culture is fundamental to risk management, both during the pandemic and beyond so, for clients, principal contractors and supply chain partners, it should always be a priority.
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