Feature Project
Re:Generation Edition 01
10 tips for effective Health & Safety
Famous store given new lease of life Anyone above a certain age will remember the 1970s BBC sitcom Are you being served? It followed the misadventures of workers in a traditional British department store. Arding & Hobbs was just such a store, and its flagship building in Clapham Junction went on to be a TV star in its own right, featuring in music videos and a Mr Bean episode. It was even blown up in 1980 action thriller Nighthawks, starring a movie unknown called Sylvester Stallone... Luckily, General Demolition wasn’t asked to blow up this venerable 1910 Grade II listed building. What was required was something less brutal, more precise – not an off-the-peg solution, but more of our bespoke tailoring of the space.
Establish an ongoing culture of communication and the re-evaluation of risk, by everyone” “
The redevelopment of the building plans to create flexible retail and leisure uses across the ground and basement floors and introduce modern office space to the upper floors, with a new rooftop extension to crown the building. General Demolition has played its part in delivering a sensitive restoration, refurbishment and extension to this listed building to celebrate its unique heritage features.
Get in touch for the full case study. Email: enquiries@general-demolition.co.uk
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Yes, demolition is an inherently hazardous industry, but experienced demolition professionals know how to assess, mitigate and manage the risks. This means keeping assessments relevant to the scale, type, and number of hazards at play. This does not mean comparatively less hazardous environments are risk free.
2.
Whatever your attitude to safety, we must keep talking about the topic. The Health and Safety Executive report – Workplace fatal injuries in Great Britain, 2021 – makes for a tough read. There were 142 employees killed in work-related accidents in 2020, with an additional 60 work-related deaths among members of the public. Talking about safety can be emotive and distressing but we cannot be dismissive of the data. The numbers aren’t merely statistics – they are lives lost and families broken. So keep talking.
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Remove or mitigate risk to the minimum practicable level.
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We should all work with the attitude that: ‘I want to go home tonight with 10 fingers and 10 toes.’ Because, what if a series of workplace behaviours saw several seemingly minor oversights coalesce, just once – when person A did X, person B didn’t do Y, and person C presumed someone else would take care of Z – with devastating consequences? For similar reasons, we should cross even familiar roads and always look, regardless of whether nine times out of 10, there’s never been a passing car before. Because what if on the tenth occasion there is?
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Remember that when it comes to safety, familiarity breeds contempt. Try to establish an ongoing culture of communication and the re-evaluation of risk, by everyone involved. We are human, after all, and when a scenario becomes habitual or comfortable, we are scientifically proven to fall out of a certain behaviour. We therefore need to keep talking, from the bottom up, with no gaps. Nobody would openly say: ‘I deliberately take risks at work,’ or ‘We don’t do things particularly safely on our site.’ However, a continued assessment of that safety attitude should take place, ideally steered by someone with the appropriate knowledge, before being embraced by all.
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In saying all of this we must remain sensible.
Proactively appraising a situation and understanding the consequences of inappropriate behaviour such as ‘cutting corners’ is essential – and everyone has a role to play. What measures can be taken to mitigate and manage risk? These range from more well-known actions such as the wearing of PPE (personal protective equipment) and the erection of handrails, to perhaps less obvious rescue measures such as how we would get someone down if they had a heart attack when working at height.
We all have jobs to do, and in some cases the ‘health and safety gone mad’ statement is probably justified. Stay focused on reasonable and practicable measures, and if in any doubt, consult someone who can offer an experienced perspective.
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Reactive safety strategies are also important.
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These include the investigation of an incident, root cause analysis, reporting, the evaluation of learnings, and the implementation of improvements. The world is constantly changing, and sadly it is not possible to predict every eventuality. But this responsive exercise – however imperative – means an incident has already happened.
There are no degrees of safety.
3.
Something is either safe, or it is not, as you don’t know the tipping point between having a near miss and someone having a serious accident.. That’s why there can be no excuses surrounding decisions made – or not – to follow safety protocol.
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Text: Reprinted with thanks to our friends at Demolition & Recycling International Magazine.
www.general-demoliton.co.uk
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