Barroerock Construction Limited has been fined after repeated asbestos failings. Canterbury Crown Court heard how the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out two investigations of working practices of the site in 2013 and 2014 while Barroerock were converting into flats a former nine-storey office building in Ashford, Kent, which was known to contain asbestos. The first investigation arose from …

Having recently teamed up with safety shoe manufacturer Aimont, Supertouch – the PPE and workwear solutions specialist – is now providing its customers in the construction and building industry with an extensive range of boots and shoes. The Aimont range features Light Plus toe cap technology. Being polymer based, this toecap is extremely lightweight, without compromising on protective strength, matching …

BAM Construction Limited and Shoreland Projects Limited have been fined after a man suffered multiple life changing injuries including severe burns to his neck. Winchester Crown Court heard how BAM Construction had been appointed by Network Rail to construct a new railway operating centre in Basingstoke. BAM later appointed Shoreland Projects Ltd as the groundworks contractor for this project. On …

New  figures from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reveal that the UK construction industry could lose almost 200,000 EU workers post-Brexit should Britain lose access to the single market, putting some of the country’s biggest infrastructure and construction projects under threat. RICS has cautioned that for Brexit to succeed, it is essential to secure continued access to the …

A Manchester building contractor and a company owner have appeared in court after a worker was seriously injured on a refurbishment site. The 53-year-old father of two from Salford was employed as a labourer at the site of a refurbishment project at Manchester One, Portland Street Manchester when the incident occurred on 29 August 2014. The incident was investigated by …

The average British worker spends as many as 120 hours per year using their smartphones in the workplace, and those working in construction are among the highest users, according to new research. Research of 2,012 UK adults carried out by gadgets and technology etailer, LaptopsDirect.co.uk, has revealed more than three quarters (78%) of construction workers admit to using their smartphones …

Construction firm, Structural Metal Decks Limited, (SMDL) has been fined after a worker was left paralysed following an accident at a building site in Kilsyth. The worker suffered injuries to his spinal cord and is now paralysed from the neck down following the incident. Airdrie Sheriff Court heard how Structural Metal Decks Ltd had been sub-contracted to lay metal deck …

A freedom of information request by Unite, the union for construction workers, has uncovered that thousands of young people are being placed on so-called ‘dead-end’ classroom based construction courses. The figures obtained from the Government’s Skills Funding Agency, reveal the number of classroom based construction courses increased by 14 per cent last year, totally dwarfing the number of apprentices beginning …

Following the publication of the Construction Skills Network (CSN) report, Professor Linda Clarke, Professor of European Industrial Relations at Westminster Business School, believes the future for construction, and particularly for construction labour, looks bleak, especially in light of Brexit: “The Construction Skills Network (CSN) forecasts a worrying outlook for construction activity over the next five years, hugely dependent on infrastructure …

Construction is set for growth over the next five years with carpenters, electricans and insulators among those to benefit most according to a new forecast  from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB). The Construction Skills Network (CSN) report, predicts growth of 1.7% over the next five years, with 179,000 jobs to be created – a better outlook than was predicted …

The director of a construction company has been imprisoned for eight months after failing to take appropriate action which resulted in a young worker receiving serious burns. Cardiff Crown Court heard the young worker was instructed to stand on top of a skip and pour a drum of flammable thinners onto the burning waste to help it to burn. The …

The Health in Construction Leadership Group supported by the British Safety Council has announced the launch of Mates in Mind – a sector-wide programme intended to help improve and promote positive mental health across the industry in the UK . Every year, one in four people in the UK will experience either stress, anxiety or depression. In the most extreme …

With a growing demand for building services and a lack of fresh talent coming in, the construction industry has a momentous few years ahead.

Sales in the UK construction products manufacturing market continued to climb for a consecutive fifteenth quarter in Q4 of 2016, according to figures published in the Construction Product Association’s latest State of Trade Survey. The construction products manufacturing industry has an annual turnover of £55 billion, directly providing jobs for 288,000 people across 22,000 companies. Products range from ‘heavy side’ …

A Lincoln based Construction Company, specialising in fitting mezzanine floors was prosecuted after a contractor fell onto a concrete floor. Guildford Crown Court heard that M & L Installers Ltd were contracted to install a mezzanine floor at a factory in Sunbury on Thames, Surrey. The design included a hole in the mezzanine floor where a lift was due to …

Ian Anfield, Managing Director for construction audit and contract provider, Hudson Contract, provides his predictions for the industry in 2017. “There’s no escaping the fact that Brexit will dominate the news and political agenda in 2017 and will have a massive impact on UK construction. This is primarily because we rely so heavily on EU labour to man our construction …

Two London based construction companies were prosecuted after a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspection identified serious safety breaches on a double basement construction project. Westminster Magistrates Court heard that emergency services had been called to a property at Bathurst Mews, London, where excavation work to form a double basement was being carried out.  They rescued a labourer with a …

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has today informed BAM Nuttall Limited, Ferrovial Agroman (UK) Ltd, and Keir Infrastructure and Overseas Ltd that they will be prosecuted in relation to three incidents that took place during the construction of the new Crossrail railway tunnel construction, which runs east to west across London. All three companies will appear at Westminster’s Magistrates …

A Derbyshire based engineering construction company has been prosecuted after a worker fell and suffered severe injuries. A worker was repairing a fibreboard roof of a barn and using two homemade crawling boards when he fell 6meters on to the floor below, sustaining serious injuries to his head, hip, and lungs. Derby Magistrates Court heard how at the time of …

UCATT is calling on the construction industry to introduce extreme weather health and safety guidelines because the industry is blighted by the inhumanity of the industry towards workers. UCATT is concerned that workers must struggle through zero temperatures, risk their health on icy ground or scaffold, or endure torrential downpours for up to 12 hours at a time while the …