Health & Safety in Construction is an area that we cannot afford to take risks in.... Who can we trust?

Health & Safety in Construction is an area that we cannot afford to take risks in. I am personally a big fan of accountability in any role, and that means that everyone in a working environment should be taking accountability for themselves, their work and their colleagues.

I am aware of, and even appreciate the conceptions surrounding CSCS, NPORS, NVQs and other vocational credentials. My father was a highly experienced Steel Erector / Cladder who could measure half a millimetre with one eye and would spot a hazard with the other. I remember going along to his first CSCS course with him in his 20th year in construction and listening to him moan about the fact that he had never had an incident on site, and how back in his day, they used to scale up 100-ft buildings, unharnessed (unverified). I heard all of the complaints about losing a days wages to sit the course, and how it is just another money spinner... the same sounds that echo around construction sites today.

To my fathers credit however, at the end of the day, he would always agree that every site had at least one person on it that would benefit from the course, and in turn that would keep him safer at work. I remember him eventually getting excited about training courses like HAVS and Asbestos Awareness, because although he previously took great pride in understanding the basic principles, he was now being fed with in-depth information that allowed him to make educated decision in the bespoke situations that he found on every new project.

With all of the tragedies and near-misses that have surfaced in construction, it never fails to surprise me that people still struggle to come to terms with the benefits of Health & Safety procedures and training courses. No one on site would like to admit that they have ever put someone else at risk... No one wants to be accountable for the loss of a family, or for the loss of earnings, or material / costs for that matter. Yet the same sounds of defiance still ring around construction sites, and what is worse, is that we are regularly seeing counterfeit cards and certificates.

Counterfeit qualifications are a workers way of saying "this is just a tick box" and dismissing the information that is critical to the safety of everyone on site. They are a way of undermining the accountability and liability of the Site Management and the company that they are representing.

The concept of a counterfeit accreditation is almost despicable, when you consider the principle and the risk / negligence that it imposes on the whole team.

As employers, recruiters, managers, supervisors and construction workers, we need to project that the physical qualification is just proof that you know the correct procedures, and we actually want people who know the correct procedures.

Together, we can take simple precautions such as using the CITB Card Checker (https://www.citb.co.uk/cards-testing/how-do-i-check-card-details/) or Phoenix Online (https://phoenixonline.cskills.org/phoenix/home.asp) to verify credentials and I would encourage every agency, and every employer to utilise these in every instance.

It is also important to note that there are "sophisticated scammers" out there who are selling and delivering courses that look legitimate, but unfortunately they are not accredited to do so, which means that the material they are teaching has not been audited and approved by the governing bodies. Therefore, they do not prove that they know the correct procedures. It is critical to do your research and to make sure that the courses, and the company delivering the courses are approved and credible.

If in doubt, Q2W work with some of the UK's largest contractors, including Galliford Try, Bouygues, Lakehouse & Bourne, and they have addressed many of the issues that people face in having to spend money to take time off work, by utilising modern technology for trusted and accessible courses (www.q2w.co.uk).

Health & Safety in Construction is an area that we cannot afford to take risks in.