Cube builder praised by HSE for safety work
THE DEVELOPER of Birmingham landmark The Cube has been praised by the Health and Safety Executive for its work to reduce hazards for construction staff.
The HSE said BuildAbility, Birmingham Development Company’s construction arm, had made site safety a priority.
The praise comes as the Executive launches its Shattered Lives campaign, which highlights some of the most common dangers in the workplace.
Its report shows that more workplace deaths are caused by falls from height than any other cause, while slips and trips are the most common cause of major workplace injury in Britain, costing society an estimated £800 million each year.
In Birmingham there were 180 major injuries caused by slips and trips in 2008/09, with a further 69 caused by falling from height. Across the West Midlands there were 1,001 major slip and trip injuries 395 caused by falls.
In the UK over the same period, there were more than 2,100 falls involving construction workers. Of those, 21 were fatal, more than 1,200 caused major injuries and nearly 900 led to an absence from work of three days or more.
Mike Ford, construction inspector at the Health and Safety Executive, said it was important the organisation worked with BuildAbility and the construction team.
“There has been a responsible approach to health and safety,” he said.
“As with all construction sites, there are a lot of potential hazards. Nevertheless, we can confirm that the company has made site safety a key part of its work and any incidents that have been reported have been minor and dealt with immediately.”
Aidan Smith, construction manager for BuildAbility at The Cube, said the complexity of the site made health and safety a prime concern.
“It’s a challenging site due to its tight boundaries and the innovative nature of the project, but we have collaborated to ensure the best possible outcome,” he said.
“We’ve worked to improve our systems throughout the project. With a development of this scale and build schedule there will always be cables everywhere, so we’ve ensured procedures are in place to elevate them so that the team can work safely.
“We also made sure there were no edges on the top steps of the stairwells, which would be an obvious trip hazard, and installed permanent hand rails.”
The Shattered Lives campaign is targeted at those sectors where there is a high number of slips, trips and fall accidents each year: health and social care, education, food manufacturing, food retail, catering and hospitality, building and plant maintenance, and construction.
For more details, visit www.hse.gov.uk/shatteredlives
