Health & Safety - Q&A
We sat down with Christian, our H&S Lead to talk all things Health and Safety at Stoic.
Health and safety in construction is constantly evolving—what changes do you think are most needed to push the industry forward?
I think the industry could benefit from more innovation going forward. I'm seeing a general downturn from what was coming out five, ten years ago. In one area specifically, I would say data management and documentation. There are lots of very, very good data management systems out there that do a lot, but I don't think they quite do enough with regards to documentation and keeping it specific, relevant to the organisational context of the hazard profiles on site.
How does Stoic Roofing & Construction stay ahead of the curve when it comes to health and safety practices?
Well, documentation is the big one for me in the industry. Just keeping the documentation real and keeping it specific, not just to the types of operations on site but to the people, individuals that that documentation is written for. I've been to some projects where I have seen rams that are over 100 pages long and your average operative is just not going to read that. Keeping management documentation such as construction phase plans for management personnel and documentation such as RAMs and operational procedures for operational staff, which should only be a few pages long, making it more likely for those individuals to read and understand those documents.
Are there any new technologies or methods you’re excited about that could improve safety on-site?
One piece of technology I'm really excited about is something called Fire Safety Stick, which takes the old-school traditional fire extinguishers and has really repackaged it into something that is far more versatile, reliable, smaller, compact and really takes what was once big and bulky and is now something that can really become part of a worker's tool belt. It solves so many issues on site from the reliability issue right down to manual handling and reduced maintenance on site as well. It's a really good piece of kit which we are now starting to bring into our business as well.
What’s one outdated mindset in construction safety that you’d like to see change?
One thing that still really bothers me is the concept that paper someone saves lives. A lot of safety management systems out there rely heavily on a lot of documentation, a lot of paperwork, rather than just keeping it simple, straightforward, and to the point. Like I mentioned earlier, things like construction phase plans being management documents, which are designed for management personnel, and site-based documents being for the operators and workers on site. more likely that they will read those documents and follow those processes and procedures. At Stoic, we really ensure that those documentation for the site personnel are short, sweet, to the point, and that operators actually read those documents and understand them when they put and sign the names to them.
People often assume H&S is all about compliance, but there’s more to it than just ticking boxes. What’s something about your role that might surprise people?
Well, people often think that part of what we do as safety professionals is just box ticking and a lot of paperwork and documentation. But really, it's more than that. It's about finding ways of making all these regulations really fit the context of the organisation. A large part of what we do is really getting out there, getting a feel for what people are doing, what people are experiencing, and how to make the company's processes and procedures really effective and efficient for those works that are happening on site, really bridging the gap between management on-site operations and what legislation and best practice requires the organisation to be doing.
If you could implement one industry-wide change tomorrow, what would it be?
I'd have to say, bugbear of mine would be COSHH assessments. I think a lot of safety professionals would question whether they are really that necessary. I mean, legislation aside, substances that are being used, the way they have been or for the purpose that they've been designed, I suppose I would question whether you really need to have a COSHH assessment done to that level of detail when you already have safety data sheets provided by the manufacturers. But fair enough, I can understand why it would be necessary. But I suppose I would take this back to what I said earlier about documentation being relevant to the types of work being on site. Just keep it simple, keep it relevant to the person on the project and the work being conducted on site.
And finally, if Stoic had a theme song, what would it be?
My song of choice would be the Hive's Hate to Say I Told You So.