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Articles by David Cant
A journey in safety management empowering positive change
Hello there, fellow safety professionals! I want to share a journey of the old me and the new me, a personal transformation from the negative to the positive regarding safety management. Safety is not just a set of rules and regulations; it’s a way of life we must embrace wholeheartedly. So, let’s embark on this journey together, and I hope my experiences and insights can inspire and guide you toward becoming a more proactive safety professional. Let’s dive in.
Safety professionals need the human touch
If you’re promoting a safe and healthy work environment, you have to be the friendliest people in the workplace, says David Cant. First, let’s clarify that being friendly doesn’t mean you have to be friends with employees. Safety professionals play a critical role in promoting a safe and healthy work environment for all employees.
David Cant: Competent or not
As the founder of Veritas Consulting, David Cant has been at the heart of a UK health and safety consultancy for two decades. To most right-minded individuals, 'incompetent' is quite the insult. Incompetence implies uselessness at a given task, possibly even dangerousness, and most of us - quite rightly - would take serious offence. In health and safety, however, competence is actually a technical term.
Building your h&s brand with social media
Social Media If you’re involved in social media in health and safety, one name will stick out. Chartered Health and Safety consultant David Cant, Veritas Consulting Safety Services, who has over 68,000 Twitter followers, takes things back to basics, looking at each platform and how to use them successfully in this ‘throwback article’, which was first published in 2016.
Dealing with ice and snow on a construction site
Slips and falls are some of the most common workplace accidents. But when you add ice and snow to the mix, the dangers are even more pronounced. Managing ice and snow on a construction site is absolutely essential. You are not only legally obliged to manage potential causes of accidents, like ice but doing so will also ensure your workforce remains fit and healthy. So as temperatures drop and the risk of significant snow and ice increases, here’s how you need to prepare.
SustMeme Built Environment
1. (1) Dezeen @dezeen 1,028 2. (2) ArchDaily @archdaily 1,024 3. (3) Brent Toderian @brenttoderian 1,023 4. (4) RIBA @riba 1,011 5. (5) Autodesk @autodesk 1,008 6. (6) USGBC @usgbc 1,008 7. (7) Dusty Gedge @greenroofsuk 1,006 8. (8) Architizer @architizer 1,005 9. (9) Architects Journal @architectsjrnal 1,004 10. (10) William J. Martin @wjmarchitect 1,004 11. (11) David Cant @davidgcant 1,000 12. (12) Interior Design @interiordesign 993 13. (13) George Clarke @mrgeorgeclarke 989 14.
Construction employers still not taking health and safety seriously
A survey of construction union members has revealed that employers are failing to convince workers that health and safety is a priority. 750 members of the Ucatt union were questioned in December last year, with more than half (55%) reporting that they had seen no improvement in health and safety standards over the course of 2014.
Tired At Work? It’s No Snoozing Matter!
Think feeling tired and fatigued at work is just all part of the usual working day? But while tiredness is easy to trivialise, there’s a lot more to it than that. Fatigue can actually pose a serious health and safety risk in the workplace. Did you know that it costs the UK up to £240 million a year due to accidents caused? Or that tiredness causes 20% of major accidents on the UK’s roads?
Are YOU! making these Risk Assessment BLUNDERS?
The UK sees 170 fatal injuries at work every year, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). With over 100,000 injuries. And that’s just the reported ones! None of us want to be a part of these statistics. But are you taking the right steps to avoid them? Don’t be like too many business owners and only take things seriously once an accident has already happened. It could be like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted; just too late.
Is what you don’t know putting lives at risk?
Have you ever wondered why many less-able people seem overly confident in their own abilities? Even when the evidence is overwhelmingly against their belief? A pair of American psychologists named Dunning and Kruger decided to look into the phenomenon with some surprising results. Not only did they discover that this was a real condition, but also that the least capable people were far more confident in their own abilities than genuine specialists.
Leaderboard - 5:00am, 12th Mar 2018 - SustMeme Built Environment - powered by rise.global
Ranking of Top 500 influencers and players active on Twitter in Architecture, Design & Engineering, Property, Planning, Development & Construction. Weekly update day: Monday. Curated and Managed by Jim McClelland @SustMeme, the data is published by McClelland Media Ltd. The Leaderboard ranks Players on the basis of scores that measure interactions and influence across social media, with the metrics provided predominantly via leading independent platform Kred, plus an additional custom element.
Workplace psychology - communicating information and using influence effectively
Training plays an extremely important role in helping raise health and safety standards. But simply presenting information to employees may not be enough to effect the change you want. Instead, you need to carefully consider how information is communicated – and how to positively influence your employees. One of the keys to effective workplace communication is understanding what motivates your employees. What makes them tick? What do they like and dislike? What has worked in the past?
What is the most dangerous industry in the UK?
The HSE has released their latest figures about UK health and safety – and the results may be surprising for some. The annual HSE report always makes for sobering reading. The good news is that health and safety standards continue to improve – but as always there is still room for improvement. What may be surprising to anyone unfamiliar with the state of health and safety in UK industry is which is the most dangerous industry.
How do accidents happen on construction sites?
The term “accident” implies an unavoidable situation, an unforeseen disaster that brings harm to people and property. And although genuine accidents do happen on constructions sites, you have a duty to prevent them wherever possible. An important part of prevention is understanding how accidents happen in the first place – preferably learning from the mistakes of others, rather than making your own.
Substance Misuse and Drug Testing in the Construction Industry
Drink and drug testing may seem heavy-handed – but it could actually help make your construction sites safer. Your business has a responsibility to improve site safety by any method available. If your employees are using drink or drugs, they are at increased risk of causing an accident that injures themselves or their colleagues. To better manage these risks, you should seriously consider implementing drug and alcohol testing for your workers.
Mates in Mind – mental health guidance for the construction industry
Often overlooked, mental health remains a serious concern within the construction industry. Although the sector continues to improve the protections offered against physical injury, safeguards for employee mental wellbeing is not currently as well resourced. The importance of mental health cannot be emphasised strongly enough.
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