Morris has seen too many falls from heights to say this lightly. But he knows that scaffolding is a macho profession where safety often is treated too lightly.
And the figures bear him out. Between April and September of last year there was a 59% increase in site deaths compared to the same period in 1999. More than half of all fatal accidents are due to falls.
New harness regulations
Despite the 1996 Building Regulations making it a legal requirement to prevent falls, nothing much changed until six months ago, when Morris saw a lifelong dream come true. In August, the National Access and Scaffolding Confederation and the Health and Safety Executive produced a guidance booklet, SG4:00, on how to implement the Building Regulations. They have been working hard to encourage scaffolding contractors to use it ever since.
The biggest change introduced by the guidance was the use of safety harnesses, largely unheard of in the scaffolding industry before last year. This required not only working with manufacturers to produce appropriate harnesses, but also reassuring scaffolders that wearing harnesses was a good idea and that the new equipment wouldn't impede their work or diminish their pay.
Morris, a former chairman of the NASC safety committee, says this was a formidable obstacle. "We couldn't just publish the guidance and walk away; retraining was needed. A lot of scaffolders complained that wearing a harness would affect their earning power, as it would slow them down. But it would affect their earning power more if they fell off a scaffold." SGB took the initiative and gave its 1600 scaffolders a half-day retraining course on erecting and dismantling scaffold using harnesses. It also developed a bespoke harness with manufacturer SpanSet (pictured right) that is water resistant and has extra padding at the shoulder to allow for carrying scaffolding pipes.
"Because we placed a big order," he says, "we got the price down to £40 per harness, and that was with each one customised to our own requirements. Off the shelf harnesses can cost up to £60." But It's not just up to the scaffolding industry to force a culture change, according to Morris. Main contractors can do their bit also.
Support from main contractors
"We need the support of main contractors to only employ scaffolders that work to the guidance. It will be better for them as well to prevent accidents on their sites and avoid prosecutions.
"The HSE wanted the harness to be clipped on at all times, but it isn't possible to do this and work effectively, so we reached a compromise," says Morris.
"SG4:00 states you don't have to clip on below 4m or when there is a single guard rail on the scaffold. Its not 100% brilliant, but it's 100% better than completely ignoring the law, which scaffolding firms were doing before SG4:00 came out." Falling from heights may be the most dramatic type of construction accident, but the other cause for concern is manual handling injuries, which account for one third of all injuries in construction. Although a range of hi-tech equipment to prevent handling injuries is available, the industry doesn't make best use of it, says Suzannah Thursfield, director of health and safety at the Construction Confederation. "There are machines that can lift huge sheets of glass using suckers, or even simply using hoists rather than hod carriers can help. " One site that is taking the plunge and using machines rather than manual handling is being run by Mace, which is under contract to build the headquarters of investment banker Merrill Lynch in the City of London.
Hi-abs
Tony Northcott, Mace's health and safety manager, says he prefers delivery vehicles to be fitted with hi-abs – a lifting device that loads and unloads the vehicle without the need for manual handling. And for those trucks that don't have hi-abs, there is a permanent fork-lift truck driver on the site to unload deliveries.
Among the more hi-tech devices on the site is a Robota. "This is a lifting device that is fitted with suckers so it can lift glazing units into place" says Northcott. "It can carry loads of up to one tonne." This is in addition to more traditional methods of carrying heavy loads, such as tower cranes, pallet trucks and a lift to carry heavy loads to higher floors of the building.
John Hanley, Mace's director of safety, health and the environment, says that many contractors are unaware of the extent of the problem when it comes to manual handling injuries, and they need to be shown that using equipment can actually work to their advantage, especially in terms of craft. "If the workforce see that you are trying to raise the quality of a project and look after them by hiring equipment," he says "they will give you a better quality of workmanship in return."
Source
Construction Manager
