Health and Safety

Government-commissioned report calls for overhaul of construction product testing system - but how likely is action? Evidence given to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry raised grave concerns about the process by which cladding materials used on the west London block were tested and approved. In response, in 2021, then housing secretary…

As construction professionals and legal experts digest the real-world implications of the Building Safety Act, what are the big unanswered questions? Nobody needs reminding that ongoing building safety reforms are aimed at avoiding a repeat of the dreadful events of June 2017, when 72 people died in a devastating fire…

The official system to investigate construction accidents is failing both victims and the industry Kayla Boor had just left her four-year-old son at school and was walking along the street when a pallet of bricks fell onto her from a building site crane. Two days later, the recently engaged woman…

Bill Hill is chief executive officer of the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity The statistics about wellbeing in construction do not make for good reading. About 20 per cent of all recorded work-related illness is down to stress, anxiety or depression. The true number is probably higher, because not everything is…

The Work at Height Regulations save lives and are hugely popular in the construction sector. But will moves to ‘sunset’ all EU laws dilute – or even destroy – them? Behind the innocuous-sounding ‘Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill’, lies the prospect of an assault by the government on…

As the investigation into the deaths of four men at a decommissioned power station enters its eighth year, Ian Weinfass speaks to some of those still affected by the tragedy and asks why the industry has received no guidance since Sadie Cresswell has been waiting for seven years to find…

Richard Broome is managing director of online resource LinesearchbeforeUdig (LSBUD) As the country started to return to some form of normality post-COVID, and the government put significant resources behind large-scale infrastructure in a bid to kick-start the UK’s economy, we have experienced a ‘digging boom’. Indeed, according to government figures,…

Robert Cridford is technical manager at materials supplier Siniat In the wake of the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy and the subsequent identification of failings within industry regulations, codes, practices and approval processes, there’s been a major tightening-up of fire-safety legislation over the past few years – and rightly so. The…

Ibrahim Imam is co-CEO of construction-sector software provider PlanRadar Fire-safety regulation is a hot topic for everyone in construction, particularly the residential sector, where the Fire Safety Act (FSA) and Building Safety Act (BSA) are rightly tightening up protocol. Being refined on a regular basis, the FSA continues to be…

Tim Marlow is founding partner of Chronos Consult Last week, the UK saw its hottest temperature ever, with an official high of 40.3o. The Meteorological Office says this is likely to happen again within weeks. As always, the industry has shown its resilience, with most sites remaining open. But, even…