With the news headlines moving slightly away from the coronavirus pandemic into an almost daily dose of woe about the energy market crisis, in today’s blog we’re looking at what effect this might have on construction.
While Sheriff Construction and other building contractors like us do not use very much natural gas in our day-to-day work, the problem is that our suppliers do. Manufacturing the materials we use is often energy intensive and, with the hike in the price of gas, it’s inevitable that those costs will start to pass through the procurement process. One leading economist is warning the industry to be prepared for a ‘phase of rising prices’ in bricks, cement and concrete. Read on for more information.
For any company to be successful, good leadership is essential. This is true across many different industries and the main issue for construction businesses is achieving this at all the various leadership levels across their organisation. Among other things, we need great leaders in the office to provide direction on the business strategy, principles and procedures; we need great leaders on board at the very beginning of every project to engage with clients and oversee safety, costs and budgeting; and we need great leaders on the ground at each site to manage schedules, monitor progress and motivate the team. With so much riding on it, we’re taking a moment this week to reflect on what good leadership in construction actually looks like.
While strict health and safety measures have certainly reduced the number of injuries and fatalities in construction, the industry is still one of the most hazardous in the UK. Last year, construction workers suffered 61,000 non-fatal injuries and 40 people died as a result of workplace injury in our sector. What’s most frustrating is that the vast majority of on-site injuries are completely preventable. Today, we’re taking a look at four of the most common causes of accidents and offering some basic tips on what you can do to reduce the risks.
In a week that’s been a bit shaky for the UK government, you might have missed the moment when Business Secretary, Alok Sharma thanked the construction sector for facing the challenges of remaining open, supporting the economy and carrying out vital work throughout the pandemic. In an open letter to all involved in the industry,…
Second only to packaging in generating an estimated 50,000 tonnes of plastic waste each year, it’s clear that plastic is still a big problem for the UK’s construction sector. Of course, it’s the very thing that makes plastic desirable (it’s durability) which is what also causes the biggest issues. With so much plastic waste ending…
A reminder of when and how to travel safely to work As we’ve previously mentioned, many construction sites have temporarily closed but some are continuing to operate under the strict guidelines created by the Construction Leadership Council in line with government advice on COVID-19. All of the major contractors we work with have implemented these….
COVID-19 stories are dominating every aspect of our daily news, making it hard to filter out the information that might be the most relevant to you personally or professionally. With that in mind here’s a few construction-related headlines you might have missed recently: Many UK housebuilders have furloughed high percentages (up to 80%) of their…
The UK is in the middle of a nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19 but since that announcement was made last night there has been much confusion about what construction workers (who cannot realistically carry out their work from home) should do. When questioned about this earlier today, Cabinet Minister, Michael Gove said:…
The most recent ONS* report on the construction sector (for 2018) describes the numbers of people employed by the sector and how things vary between different regions in the UK (with the South East and London topping the list for construction employment). What it doesn’t include is any mention of the male to female ratio…
Accidents or injuries on site are best prevented by adopting positive behaviours and attitudes which keep everyone safe – good communication, avoiding making assumptions and being cooperative with colleagues for instance. That all sounds pretty obvious, however in practise things can easily go wrong when workers lapse into bad practices. Last week, we took a…