Leaders in health & safety for the decking industry
SMD’s Steve Orr, Mark Bell and Dan Williams were in prestigious company on the 7th June this year. Not only did they find themselves at the headquarters of the Williams Formula 1 team – they were among winners of high level health and safety awards presented by the UK’s largest construction safety group. And SMD was one of the winners.
The Building Safety Group’s award ceremony was held at the Williams Experience Centre in Oxfordshire, which is also home to the largest private collection of F1 cars in the world, spanning the entire history of the Williams team from the 1970s to the present day.
BSG invited nominees for several categories – environmental, occupational health and competence in H&S training, as well as for specific project, contractor and member awards and for innovation. This was where we scored.
The BSG presents its Innovation Award to companies that can demonstrate innovation in their health and safety strategies and that can prove how this has led to improved risk mitigation in its operations.
At SMD we take pride in our commitment to health and safety. We know it’s vital that we provide safe working conditions, equipment and systems of work and that we also provide robust and suitable training programmes for our operatives. Our entry for the innovation category was designed to showcase our new two storey steel training frame, located at our Midlands Office & Logistics Centre.
This training feature is intended to represent a part of a typical steel frame on which we would install safety netting, metal deck and its associated components. It will be used to complement operational and safety instruction given to new starters before their introduction to a live site.
It was Mark Bell (Deck Operations Manager) and Steve Orr (Training & Development Manager) who put together our submission, incorporating a comprehensive collection of photos highlighting the different aspects and benefits of the frame, which is fitted with two versions of typical edge protection that we may encounter during our decking operations.
Our involvement with other organisations committed to H&S runs deep. Safety nets as a passive means of fall protection are an integral part of our daily work and with one of our directors on the board of FASET (Fall Arrest Safety Equipment Training), we can play a critical role in the testing regime that’s aimed at continuous improvement in safety net standards.
The BCSA Metal Decking Contractors Group has compiled a code of practice that sets out levels of safety and quality for our industry. We work closely with British Constructional Steelwork Association (BCSA) in this respect, because collaboration between the steelwork and decking contractors in the early stages of a project is so essential to establishing robust health and safety measures.
Sharing the knowledge we gain from our associations with these bodies with the construction industry as a whole is a crucial service and we’ve developed numerous guidance sheets and best practice sheets that are freely available for download from our website
With Steve Orr as our full time Training and Development Manager, we engage not only our own staff in continuous development, via a staff training and skills matrix, but those of the sub-contractors in our supply chain as well.
The onboarding process for new starters in our company includes a mandatory 5 day site induction course, following which the participants are expected to qualify for a Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) Trainee card.
The induction course is all about the beginnings of developing safety awareness and practical skills and is centred on several critical H&S considerations.
- Appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and its correct use.
- Safe equipment use – abrasive wheels and both powder and gas activated fixing nail guns (part of the core UKMDA training course).
- Manual handling.
- Fire safety.
- An introduction to stud welding.
- Safe working at height and the use of ladders/steps and of netting. It’s here that our training frame comes into play – our trainees can learn about netting and stitching/trimming deck at high and low levels in close to realistic conditions.
Armed with this knowledge and initial experience, the operatives can progress to on-site learning, through a series of probationary periods.
Starting with the basic techniques in working with deck sheets, deck fixing, installation and management of safety nets and the correct interpretation of drawings, for the first three months they are monitored closely. Improvement in the quality and speed of their work is expected and they have to pass an assessment, which is carried out on the training frame.
After a further 6 months of on-site learning and development, the operatives can progress to Improver level. By this time they will be more competent in most of the activities involved in the installation of metal decking and have continuously improving safety awareness, although mostly under supervision.
Within 18 months of starting with SMD, our site staff will have to demonstrate that they can work at their tasks independently and efficiently and deal with the issues that result from more complex deck layouts. Our equipment is well maintained, and observing this maintenance regime is part of the skill set that the trainees have to learn, but there is always the possibility that something will go wrong at a crucial time. Being able to spot the warning signs, fix minor faults and know when to stop is part of this initial development.
Further assessments and success on a number of courses will result in the new operatives gaining their blue Skilled Worker CSCS cards. They are expected to:
- Pass the Construction Industry Training Board H&S Awareness course and the FASET Safety Net Rigger course.
- Obtain a Powered Access Licence 3a & 3b for operating mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs).
- Complete and pass the UKMDA NVQ Level 2.
The new training frame is proving invaluable during both the instruction and assessment periods for our operatives. It’s also enabled our more experienced site teams to practise net rescue procedures and FASET has utilised the mock frame for load testing on edge protection and safety nets in the event of a fall into a net, with the use of a weighted bag.
While undoubtedly we are proud of this innovative feature, we know that its presence will reinforce the message to our employees that their safety is paramount.
