Safety chiefs have come up with a great idea.

Professional builders who see unsafe practices on small sites should step in and point out the error of their ways to the erring workmen. To that end, CM would like me and my team to carry out a sort of pilot study.

Well, I put this suggestion to the boys one morning. You can guess what the reactions were. Nick, not truly displaying team spirit, suggested this might be a job for the graduate. The general theme of responses was something like: ‘I’d like to see the editor go up to an 18-stone scaffolder and tell him to put a hard hat on.’

You can imagine the conversation.

‘Excuse me, but you really should wear a hard hat. If a scaffolding tube falls on your head you could get serious brain damage’

‘And you are?’

‘A concerned member of the public.’

‘**** off then! Or you’ll be getting brain damage’

I have to admit, with the same sort of shame felt by Jeremy Vine who failed to help a man being beaten on the Tube, that I have sometimes passed sites where I’ve winced at what’s happening but have failed to do or say anything.

Should I have stepped in? Probably. But, as well as the fear of actual bodily harm, there’s also that little voice in my head that says: ‘Are you really squeaky clean? Can you put your hand on your heart and say that your site is 100% safe 100% of the time?’

Anyway, the good news is that the graduate thought it was a great idea and is boning up on the company safety manual as we speak… come on now, do you really think I’d be that cruel?

Source

Construction Manager