Contractors must provide non-English-speaking workers with health and safety training in their own language and offer adequate bilingual supervision. And Bovis may insist on contractors taking on trainees if it thinks they're not doing enough training.
"A big initiator for the move has been a dwindling labour force," says company spokesman Andrew Bond. "The average age of a steel erector is 50. It's going to become pretty critical in 10 years' time. We're just not attracting enough people into the industry."
One of the main targets in the Bovis initiative is bogus self-employment, where companies avoid giving workers holiday and sick pay by defining them as self-employed. Bond says this hurts the image of the industry because it leaves many workers without statutory benefits.
Bovis says it will clamp down on this practice, enforcing the rule by setting up its own auditing process. Bovis can demand evidence of a contractor's payment method, for instance. But Bond hints at a more moderate approach, saying that companies already on Bovis's preferred bidders list comply with the terms anyway, and that it will usually be new companies that will be scrutinised.
UCATT general secretary George Brumwell praises the move. "The big test is whether Bovis audits it," he says. "But we're quite pleased. It's getting us back to where we were 20 years ago."
However, the agreement has drawn a sceptical response from regular Bovis contractor, curtainwall and facade provider Charles Henshaw & Sons, whose surveying director, Gordon Harley, suggests it is largely a PR exercise for Bovis's clients.
"If they choose to rely on it, it could cause problems for some contractors, but I don't think Bovis will actively audit," he says.
Source
Construction Manager
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