Sheet Piling UK Driving Home Health & Safety Messages
Sheet Piling UK has spent the past year placing even greater emphasis on health & safety and using internal communications to leverage enhanced awareness of all of the many health and safety considerations that apply within a sheet piling ‘site’ operation and an office-based workplace.
Recognising that any incident or near miss is one too many, the year started with new HSEQ Manager, Richard Greenwood, launching an internal, message-filled health and safety newsletter, appropriately named ‘Driving it Home’.
The monthly newsletter focuses on one main health and safety theme per edition, going into some depth about the topic and how it impacts a wide number of Sheet Piling UK employees.
Additionally, the newsletter highlights recipients of health and safety vouchers – vouchers won by individuals who have put health and safety considerations at the forefront of their thinking. The newsletter describes what the individual did, which was viewed as a health and safety improvement or great demonstration of initiative. In this way, best practice is shared around the company.
Health & Safety awareness
To keep everyone motivated, the newsletter also itemises where Sheet Piling UK has helped to improve health and safety, via upgrades, new equipment or solutions, or other investments.
In this way, the H&S message really is driven home, whether the warning is about the need for extra lighting around sheet pile tasks during winter working, or the need for robust risk assessment method statements (RAMS).
Health and safety is described not just a highly necessary practice to ensure the safety of personnel and the public but also as an integral part of productivity and business performance – the cornerstones of the business and thus employment opportunities and job security.
Whilst it is easy to scaremonger about the fines and court cases which can result from slack health and safety, Driving it Home seeks to focus on as many positives as possible, to help every employee embrace safe practices and make them a shared responsibility.
Reminders about key laws and how they operate are, however, provided, whether that be LOLER 98, PUWER 98 or RIDDOR. The emphasis is always on due diligence and continual improvement.
Ongoing H&S improvement
The newsletter also enables Richard to advise on other measures being undertaken to improve H&S. One 2021 edition highlighted how crews would be asked to send in a photo of their day’s Permits to Work, whether a Permit to Break Ground, Permit to Load the Platform or Hot Works Permit. The key point was that the main contractor must complete these correctly and comprehensively, ensuring the right safety measures are in place, whether that is a CAT and Genny scan, confirmation of a Hot Watch period or verification of a platform’s fit-for-purpose nature in being able to bear the load of the required sheet piling equipment.
Sheet Piling UK’s managing director, Andrew Cotton, says:
“Vigilance, in terms of H&S, is paramount and it only takes a small oversight or drop in concentration to compromise safety. ‘Driving it Home’ acts as a constant reminder of what sheet pile crews should focus on and ensures they cannot forget key aspects fundamental to safety, such as pre-use equipment checks. Our newsletter is refreshing awareness and keeping everyone on their toes, spotting possible issues. It is just another example of the great effort that Sheet Piling UK puts into health and safety best practice.”
Praise for Sheet Piling UK’s systems and safe working practices has, once again, been fed back to head office from main contractors with whom we have worked. If you would like to also benefit from a sheet piling partner who puts such great store by health and safety, please call us on 01772 794141.
- Ends -NOTES TO EDITORS
Sheet Piling (UK) Limited is one of the UK's leading piling contractors. Owning and operating a comprehensive range of specialist piling equipment Sheet Piling (UK) Ltd also carry extensive stocks of new and used piles enabling rapid reaction to any urgent requirements or emergency situations.