Latest News Items

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date:	08th August 2007
Source:	Contract Journal

 

English Architectural Glazing's Dennis Butcher: 60 seconds on safety

 

How long have you been involved with the health and safety side of the business?

I have been with English Architectural Glazing for eight years and was involved in health and safety for three years prior to that.

 

What's the most difficult aspect of your job?

Keeping up with the changes in legislation. Most months there is something new to implement. The most recent one was the smoking ban in England. This was probably easier than most because of the publicity around it.

 

What's the most dangerous thing you have seen someone do?

When a hand tool somebody was using fell from a scaffold through a hole in a debris net and fell about eight floors before crashing through the windscreen of a vehicle. Luckily the driver sustained only minor injuries, but the consequences could have been a lot worse!

 

What health and safety rule is broken most often?

It used to be wearing of hard hats, but now most people accept this as the norm. In our industry, working at height is unavoidable and the thing I pick up on the most is incomplete mobile towers.

 

How do you tackle that?

Obviously, we stop the work until the towers are made good. We have sent all our site managers on the relevant courses and insist that our subcontractors are competent and have also had training. If the towers belong to other trades, we inform the principal contractor to take action.

 

What do you do with frequent offenders?

The offenders are warned of the dangers and the risks they are taking. The site manager would usually make his next toolbox talk relevant to the offence. If offenders continue to flout the rules, we would have no hesitation in banning them from site and working for English Architectural Glazing in the future if they were contractors, or commencing disciplinary proceedings if they were employees. In most cases, we resolve any issues before it goes that far.

 

What's your top tip for getting better buy-in for health and safety?

My top tip - it's two really - is good health and safety training and getting everyone involved from director level down.

 

Article used with permission.

Original copy can be found at www.contractjournal.com

 

 

Back