Health and Safety

A senior figure in the crane industry has called for mobile cranes to be subject to the same regulations and licensing as HGVs. Peter Gibbs, who chairs the Construction Plant-hire Association’s mobile crane interest group, told Construction News that he believes the machinery should be subject to oversight from traffic…

A coroner has issued a safety warning about drilling and pipe dispensing after a 71-year-old man died at an HS2 site in Birmingham last year. Charlie Harper suffered serious abdominal and chest injuries after being struck by the end of a polyethylene coiled pipe on 27 April 2023. The tail…

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) has been found in two more prisons, with the Ministry of Justice expecting to spend around £900,000 on remediation. The collapse-risk concrete has now been identified in HMP Leyhill, a category D prison in Gloucestershire, as well as HMP Parkhurst, a category B premises that…

The director of a scaffolding company has received a suspended prison sentence after one of his employees was electrocuted. Ian Pepper, director of Kent-based Canterbury City Scaffolding, has been sentenced to 18 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work and 20…

The Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) has added women’s personal protective equipment (PPE) to its contractor checklist. Companies that opt in to the CCS code of considerate practice will now have to ensure that PPE is available on site in suitable sizes. Contractors signed up to the voluntary code are assessed…

A crane has collapsed at a former hospital site in west London. The London Fire Brigade was alerted at around 9.15am on Friday (12 January) that a tower crane’s jib had fallen down at the Central Middlesex Hospital development in Park Royal, causing minor damage to a building under construction.…

The safety watchdog will urgently look at large panel system (LPS) buildings as part of its new inspection regime, Construction News has learned. A Building Safety Regulator (BSR) spokesperson said it would prioritise assessments of LPS buildings built between 1957 and 1973 “which cannot confirm remediation work has been carried…

The National Access & Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) has expressed “significant concern” over scaffolds collapsing during storms and high winds. Winds of up to 90mph have battered the UK in the past week, with Storm Henk – the eighth storm of the 2023/24 winter period – appearing to cause the collapse…

More than 90 Network Rail workers have been dismissed for consuming alcohol or drugs in the past four financial years, Construction News can reveal. Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that 23 of the rail company’s staff were sacked after tests found alcohol in their system at…

A builder has died after a roof collapse at a house undergoing a conversion in Leytonstone, east London last week. The man, who has not yet been named, died on 12 December, while a colleague was injured at the building on Pevensey Road. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said officers were…