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Construction Safety Partnership

Programme of Work 2011

The programme of work agreed by the Construction Safety Partnership for 2011 is now under way.  The Construction Safety Partnership is a grouping of the principle stakeholders in the construction industry – Employers, Unions, Professional Bodies, Government bodies, whose goal is to work together to improve the health and safety performance of what has been the country’s biggest employment sector.

Proposals for 2011

The following proposals emerged from the Construction Safety Partnership (CSP) Forum in September 2010 where the CSP Partners reviewed the progress to date and the proposals for 2011 – 2014.

In subsequent meetings of the Core Management Group, it has been agreed that given the current economic issues, it would be prudent to devise a one year plan for the CSP and revisit the proposal later in 2011. The Partners are in agreement that the CSP should remain in place given the CSP’s achievements and the recognition that the loss of this initiative at this time could be detrimental to progress within the construction industry. The programme of work, arising from our September Forum is outlined below.

Objective No. 1: Improve safety and health issues associated with the design and procurement of construction projects.

(Lead Organisation: ACEI)

To date the majority of effort to improve worker safety on construction sites has been concentrated on the downstream / on site issues. The CSP Forum suggested that more emphasis needs to be made on the upstream which the original EU Mobile Sites Directive highlighted.

Proposed work for 2011

  • Roll out of CSP Pre Qualification Safety and Health Questionnaire with Public Sector Clients
  • Produce CSP online guidance and charts on Safety and Health Standards in Procurement.                                    
  • Increase awareness of the Client appointment of the Project Supervisor Design Process, the PSDP role and the Preliminary Safety Plan.
  • Develop resources to be used in conjunction with the Local Authority planning process.
  • Consider Safety and Health issues relating to vacated/abandoned sites and future start ups.                                                                                             

Objective No. 2: Improve safety issues relating to construction plant and equipment

Incidents associated with construction plant have overtaken falls from height as the most frequent cause of fatal accidents in the construction industry. The industry has become more mechanised as costs increase and technology develops. The CSP Forum identified this particular area for attention and suggested the following initiatives.

  • Examine issues relating to Training and Certification
  • Produce simple guidance on Maintenance, Inspection, Tests and Certification of Plant and Equipment
  • Explore and pilot e - learning material on CSP web site for updating knowledge and awareness
  • Review/evaluate  the FAS Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS)  for Plant and Scaffolding

Objective No 3: Initiatives to assist small and medium size contractors / sub contractors

(Lead Organisation: Construction Industry Federation)

HSA statistics show that small to medium size enterprises find the issue of managing safety and health very challenging and accidents from this sector feature strongly in the annual HSA accident figures. The economic conditions that exist at the moment have meant that individuals who have been made unemployed have started new small enterprises and we know that these companies are challenged by the safety and health function.  The CSP has developed a number of tools to assist this sector and needs to roll out these resources in order for them to be effective.

  • Continue development, promotion, training and support on the Safety Management Pack for small contractors, SMP20.
  • Service, monitor and review the new e-learning course on SMP20
  • Explore options to increase awareness of Construction Safety issues and best practice for Domestic Clients.
  • Consider cost effective ways of engaging with and assisting small firms and the self employed to improve safety standards.

Objective No. 4: Improve Worker Engagement and Safety Representative Facilitation

The Construction Safety Representative Project is unique and has been very successful in training 1800 workers in the role of the Safety Representative and encouraging worker engagement in the issue of their safety and health at work.

  • Continue the Safety Rep Facilitation Project Develop and introduce innovative “tool box” refresher safety talks on key site hazards.
  • Follow up on Musculo Skeletal Disorder (MSD) and Manual Handling issues and target practical initiatives and demonstration projects in selected activities.

Objective No. 5: Provide Benchmarking and Continual Improvement on line tools

(Lead Organisation: Construction Industry Federation)

CSP 2008 – 2010 committed to developing an online Safety Benchmarking Tool for construction companies which allowed them to input their accident information and working hours ( securely) and which then would analyse this input in line with Eurostat techniques – see www.csponline.ie. In short, this unique tool allowed companies to analyse their accident stats, compare them with their peers in the industry and indeed with a partnership that has developed with the National Federation of Builders (NFB) in the UK – the overall objective is to allow companies to plan interventions based on knowledge. Because of the downturn in the industry, this project needs another year to acquire an adequate database of information to be truly useful.

  • Continue and promote the CSP Benchmarking System.
  • Produce data on Safety performance levels and comparisons with Construction in other countries.
  • Highlight  key areas for attention and improvement

CSP Chairman and Co-ordinator

The CSP Chairman and Co-Ordinator are key to the success of the CSP to date. The work of both has gelled the wide interest groups that are involved in the CSP and ensures that momentum is maintained on the various projects. The co-ordinators key function is project manage the working groups and keep the focus and momentum. In an effort to reduce costs, the role will be combined and delivered by one individual.

Current progress can be viewed by logging onto the Construction Safety Partnership web site www.csponline.ie.