Stay safe and secure on-site

This week kicks off the celebration of Construction Safety Week 2021, and by extension, International Building Safety Month. While safety should be a core focus every moment of every day on the job, this celebration also brings together construction firms from across the country to educate our industry and build awareness about construction safety.

It’s imperative that every business develops a safety strategy to protect their workers, which is why we’re sharing our top tips that will help ensure workplace safety.

Training
Every employee should be thoroughly educated in safe work practices and the correct use of equipment. Training empowers employees to be aware of risks, take responsibility and make the right decisions. Employers should educate each employee of office and site assembly points, evacuation plans, emergency contacts and first aid personnel.

Risk assessments
A well-planned and executed safety program helps to prevent onsite incidents and hazards. By requiring hazard assessments to be completed at the beginning of and during each project, employees can identify potential risks in their surroundings, and act to reduce the risk or use extra caution to avoid an incident.

Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)
Having PPE rules in place can eliminate serious injury and even death when worn correctly. It is critical employers enforce PPE wherever it is necessary, take responsibility for providing certain items, and train users on the correct way to wear and use it.

Responsibilities
A safety policy only works if it is adhered to and enforced by management. It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon and create a policy, then forget about it or make allowances. To limit this, keep the program consistent by: appointing a staff member or team to be responsible for safety; and working with external safety auditors to make sure your program is in line with legislation, and implement their recommendations to further strengthen your safety program.

At the end of the day, prevention is key, and taking responsibility and acting to reduce risk will result in a win-win, both for employers and employees.

APHC support
At APHC, we have a dedicated Health & Safety Systems series of documents available to members. These guidance documents have been developed to assist small to medium plumbing & heating businesses in developing a complete health and safety management system for use in their business.

Plus, as part of our partnership with the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme (CHAS), APHC members can receive an annual discount on CHAS accreditation.

The purpose of CHAS certification is to assist suppliers and buyers in the process of health and safety competence assessment. For suppliers, being CHAS certified demonstrates to buyers that they are compliant and competent with health and safety legislation and are able to work to a nationally recognised standard, according to the scheme. It can also remove the need to complete lengthy health and safety forms with many different buyers. 

All the information you need on your APHC membership benefits can be accessed via the members only area of the website. 

If you’re not already a member of APHC, get in touch with the membership sales team on 0121 711 5030 for more information.