Project Safety Journal

Respirable crystalline silica is generated when brick, concrete, mortar, stone, tiles and plasterboard are cut, drilled or demolished. Image: Dreamstime Senior managers in construction don’t have the awareness, knowledge or organisational support needed to manage silica dust, according to a new study funded through the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)’s .

A contractor has been fined after a worker fell from a tipping bucket on a forklift truck in Kent. Aaron Back spent months in hospital and was left “physically ruined” after the incident at the Emir site on Wotton Road in Ashford on 28 March 2023. He was contracted by South East Refurbishment to carry out work dismantling pipework and was in a raised tipping bucket on a forklift when he fell out of it to the concrete floor below.

An event structure company and its director have been fined after an employee suffered severe injuries, including fracturing her back while dismantling an internal steel frame. iSkate worker Natalie McCreith, 38, was seriously injured while working at Beaverbrook Hotel & Golf Course in Leatherhead, Surrey, on 26 June 2024. During the dismantling of a temporary structure, a ratchet strap was used to lower a steel beam weighing over 100kg.

A contractor has been fined £20,000 after a bricklayer broke his back after falling through a barn roof in Northumberland. The barn where the accident occurred. Image: HSE The 24-year-old stepped on a polycarbonate roof sheet and fell approximately eight feet to the concrete floor below. He suffered two broken vertebrae in his back and a fractured sternum, which required surgery.

Practices such as cutting, crushing and sanding create inhalable dust. Image: Dreamstime.com The Health and Safety Executive (HSE)’s crackdown on engineered stone has moved quickly from guidance to enforcement. In June, the regulator announced that four companies had been ordered to stop working with engineered stone after inspectors found that they lacked the controls needed to protect employees.

Image: Kasto80 | Dreamstime.com Our upcoming conference in September will bring together regulators, policymakers and industry leaders to move the conversation beyond minimum compliance and explore how the industry can embed competence, accountability and positive cultural change. The construction industry has spent the last few years adapting to significant regulatory change.

Cladding remediation underway at a UK residential high-rise. Image: Richardjohnsonuk | Dreamstime.com. The latest building control Gateway 2 update from the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) shows a continuing de-gumming of this new and complex process. In the 12 weeks to 30 May, approval rates increased across all application categories, including existing building safety projects, after BSR introduced an external remediation improvement plan in April.

New foundation excavations had been dug for the building footings, but they crisscrossed the site without any designated safe walkways. Image: HSE A construction company has been fined after a man drowned when he fell into an exposed excavation at night on a site described as a ‘death trap’ in Hertfordshire. Mykhalio Hustei, 35, had been working for Alchemist DB Ltd as a labourer on a project building several flats on the High Street in Bovington.

Two construction companies have been fined after a drilling operative sustained fractures to his neck and back when a temporary platform loaded with concrete debris collapsed on top of him. Steve Zschoch, now 60, was working for contractor Diacutt on 23 February 2024 at a construction project at Paxton House in the City of London. Image: HSE Steve Zschoch, now 60, was working for contractor Diacutt on 23 February 2024 at a construction project at Paxton House in the City of London.

Image: Diego Vito Cervo | Dreamstime.com Three men have been sentenced for helping more than 500 people cheat a construction health and safety exam following a joint investigation by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and Essex Police. The investigation began in August 2022 after CITB identified suspicious activity at an Internet Test Centre in Halstead, Essex.