Month in numbers

5
The number of key areas which Peter Rogers, the head of the Strategic Forum and director of developer Stanhope, thinks will change the industry. Rogers, who took over from Sir John Egan in September, is responding to complaints of initiative fatigue coming from around the industry.

Accelerating Change - overseen by Egan – contains 99 issues.

"Cold targets are very difficult things to make happen," Rogers told CM. "We have got to find a trigger point that makes the targets easier to achieve."

Rogers' slimline list is: good site conditions; good design standards; proper planning with the supply chain; training and education; and five KPIs which are independently monitored and published for clients to see.

He proposes membership of a professional institution would create higher scores for firms in a 'training and education' KPI.

25
The percentage by which fatalities on construction sites fell in 2001/02 compared with the previous year. Health and Safety Executive statistics released in December showed 79 deaths, compared with 105 in 2000/01.

Commenting on the dramatic fall, HSC chair Bill Callaghan said: "We want to see the downward trend continue. I am convinced that our programme is having an impact."

Construction is one of eight priority areas identified in the Revitalising Health and Safety initiative, launched by Callaghan and deputy prime minister John Prescott in June 2000.

Unfortunately there was no study made in 2000 against which improvements in work-related deaths, targeted in the Revitalising initiative, can be measured, said HSE chief statistician John Hodgson.

Hodgson explained that his team had been forced to extrapolate between two similar – but not identical – surveys in 1995 and 2001/02. "We will use the same survey techniques in 2004/05 as we did in 2001/02 so that we can have a better assurance that we are comparing like with like across the strategy."

Despite Hodgson's statistical cold water, the industry can take heart from the latest results from the HSE. They are certainly better than last year. More people died on construction sites in the year ending April 2001 than in the previous 10 years. We hope that all the rhetoric is turning into action.

56
The amount of extra profit in millions that construction firms using 'best practice' managed to make in 2002.

Construction Best Practice Programme (CBPP) has surveyed the users of its service since it started in 1998. This year's survey covered 1,444 contractors, consultants and building materials firms with turnovers from £18,000 to £6bn, and an average of £38.5m.

The survey found that firms using CBPP achieved improvements in profit that are more than 50 per cent greater than those of non-users; £18,000 more per firm on average.

The CBPP is funded by the DTI. Its aims are to identify and spread best practice throughout the industry. Over the past 12 months the CBPP has been targeting small and medium-sized enterprises.

www.cbpp.org.uk

61
If your firm's wage bill exceeds this amount in thousands, it will be paying a levy to the CITB to cover training.

The CITB announced that it will not be raising its levy rates in 2003. Firms with directly employed labour will pay 0.5 per cent of their wage bill; labour-only subcontractor payments pay 1.5 per cent.

The different rate reflects the fact that firms directly employing staff will spend more on training, says CITB finance director Douglas Matthew.

Any firm registered with the CITB – levy-paying or not – can apply for training grants. For a young person on an apprenticeship, an employer can claim up to £7,000 over three years.

There is £75m available in grants. CITB has put £5m more into the pot as a result of funds coming in through the levy.

3780
The total number of secondary schools in the UK, all of which will be upgraded over the next 10 years. The government has appointed the former boss of the PFI project review group to head the task.