These are the damning words contained in the Movement for Innovation (M4I)'s Respect for People report which is to be launched by construction minister Nick Raynsford later this month.
It is difficult to disagree. Who hasn't waded through pools of urine in site toilets only to find the closet door hanging limply off its hinges and the bowl jammed with paper and faeces? And who hasn't come in from the pouring rain to change into dry clothes only to be confronted with waterlogged floors and dripping walls more akin to the local park's changing rooms after the Sunday footballers have left?
Benchmarking for site facilities
But the industry is set to face up to the disgraceful way it treats its workers.
The Respect for People report will introduce a set of key performance indicators for site accommodation and simple checklists that managers can use to score the facilities. This means employers will be able to work out how their facilities compare with others in the industry.
Critics have knocked the scheme as liberal nonsense. They argue that construction is a tough and dirty industry, and that people realise this before they join the trade.
But proponents of the report say that with fewer people wanting to join the industry and the consequential skills crisis worsening daily, there has never been a better time to look after the workers you have got and improve the image of the industry to attract the workers who are all too easily attracted to jobs in accountancy, computing and law.
The report says that improving welfare facilities and site conditions can only help the industry achieve the low staff turnover it needs to lift performance. "It will also help to improve the image of construction as a sector that can offer an attractive and life-long career," it points out.
One company making a big effort to treat its workers well is Countryside in Partnership – the social housing division of housebuilder Countryside Properties. At its site on the windswept Greenwich Peninsula, Countryside is building phase two of the Greenwich Millennium Village and its site accommodation befits the flagship status of the project.
Although contractors have been on site since spring, the temporary site buildings are spotless. You could eat your lunch off the floor of the canteen, the drying room has ample pegs and is dry, and the office space on the upper floor is carpeted with enough room for the site design team to have an office of its own with a drawing board and ISDN line.
Greenwich pilot scheme
Countryside in Partnership director Richard Reeves is piloting the M4I's benchmarking scheme for site facilities at the Greenwich Millennium Village and is now well ahead of the rest of the industry and just a fraction off his own tough targets. In areas like first aid and toilets, Countryside's site accommodation is already scoring five against an industry norm of three. Other parameters, including washing facilities, changing facilities and accommodation, all score between four and five.
It is no accident that Countryside's site facilities are so good. The company claims to have spent twice as much as the industry standard on the accommodation. It bought the site offices from WS Atkins, which had used them in the reclamation of the peninsula site, for £35 000 and has spent nearly as much again fitting them out and refurbishing them. This includes new furniture, new low-spray taps, a dual-flush system for saving water in toilets, and lockers for site workers.
But the investment is not purely benevolent on the part of Countryside. Reeves wants a four-fold improvement in output from the site compared with the rest of the industry. And he expects the improved site facilities to contribute to it.
But Countryside is an exception, says Rod Hepper marketing director with site accommodation specialist Elliott Hire: "A recent survey confirmed that 10% of sites had very poor washing facilities and toilet facilities and this figure increased to 25% when restroom and mess facilities were taken into account."
He adds: "The irony is that it would be cheaper in many cases for these firms to bring their operations up to the required standards, rather than pay the heavy fines for breaches of health regulations."
Hepper says the Health and Safety Executive is cracking down on poor facilities now and he is getting more requests for washing and toilet facilities because of it.
The Respect for People report suggests that temporary accommodation should provide a "clean, dry and effective working area and that workers should have facilities second to none". Some of the best firms already know this.
Source
Construction Manager
