In new rules which came into place on Friday 1st April, the government has stated that construction firms in the UK can no longer use red (rebated) diesel for site plant and machinery.
Brought in as part of the search for policies which will help the country hit its net zero target by 2050, this would seem like a good thing. However, looking at the impact this is likely to have on construction companies in the current economic circumstances, many in the industry are calling this ‘the right policy at the wrong time’. Here’s what you need to know…
Last night, the film industry turned out for the Oscars and usually the day after would see people discussing whether the awards went to the most deserving nominees. Only this year, the focus has shifted from the actual films as instead everyone is talking about the moment the actor Will Smith walked onto the stage and hit the comedian Chris Rock in the face!
The incident, which took place after Rock had made a joke about Smith’s wife, seemed completely uncharacteristic of the normally professional actor but this got us thinking about how easy it can be to lose your cool at work and whether there are ways to avoid doing just that. Take a look at our latest blog for five ways to keep your cool.
Statistics from the Health and Safety Executive show that there has been an average of 61,000 non-fatal injuries in construction each year and that during the period 2020-21 there were 39 fatal injuries. Although that might not seem a large number, it’s 4 times the rate for all industries!
Whilst falls from height and slips, trips and falls feature among the most common causes of injury, every year thousands of people are injured due to hazards arising from the equipment they’re using on site. Take a look at this week’s blog for six common dangers to watch out for.
In 2020-21, 1.7 million workers suffered from a work-related illness. For 800,000 of them, this was related to stress, depression or anxiety. Before COVID, it was estimated that mental health issues like these cost UK employers up to £45 billion a year. The pandemic has undoubtedly made things worse and, with mental health issues on the rise, workplace stress is now reported as the number one reason for sick days in the UK.
In response, a new campaign called ‘Working Minds’ is calling for a culture change in Britain’s workplaces, asking them to recognise and respond to the signs of stress as routinely as they would manage workplace safety. Find out more about the campaign and what you could do to tackle work-related stress in this week’s blog.
For any construction project, the position of Site Manager (sometimes referred to as Project Manager) is one of the most important. Whoever takes on this role must oversee the day-to-day management of on-site operations from start to finish (including pre-planning) and ensure all tasks are carried out with a focus on three key things – meeting timescales, keeping within budget and performing to the expected quality standards.
There’s no doubting that being a Site Manager is challenging but, as with many job roles, when some thought and time is given to being more effective, things can become easier and more enjoyable. If you’re wondering how to do this, read our blog for our top five tips.
From April 2022, a new app is set to make the process of checking CSCS skills cards at construction sites a lot simpler, improving site safety and tackling fraud in the process.
At the moment, different trades are signed up to 38 different card schemes which display the CSCS logo. This can lead to all kinds of complications when checking documentation and potentially to workers taking on roles they’re not suitably qualified/ trained for.
The CSCS Smart Check app is being developed as a solution that will allow all 2.1 million cards in the construction industry to be electronically verified quickly and easily in a single place. Keep reading…
The humble brick: we work with it every day and probably never really think of it as anything more than a key component of the structures we build.
However, for some people, the brick is just the starting point of an innovative project or an artistic endeavour! So, just for fun, in this week’s blog we’re bringing you two short stories that might make you see bricks in a new light.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been sharing some of the principles and actions we want Sheriff to follow in order to improve our ‘social value’. In our two previous blogs, we looked at the things we could do to better support the communities we’re part of and the people who work with us (both in and outside of the workplace).
There’s one more area of social value which is really important to us because it’s implications go so much further than the people and places that are part of our everyday lives – the environment.
So, in the final chapter of this series, our question is this: What steps can Sheriff take to protect the natural environment?
Like most construction companies, there are times when our work involves dealing with and temporarily storing hazardous waste on site. If we were to do this poorly, it would have the potential to cause damage to both the environment and the local community (especially if it was allowed to contaminate surface water or groundwater supplies).
The good news is that we take our responsibilities seriously and follow strict procedures that comply with UK legislation and ensure no such damage comes about. As this is such an important topic, we’ve put together this quick guide to hazardous waste so that people know exactly what they should/ shouldn’t be doing.
A couple of weeks ago, we used our blog to tell you about how and why Sheriff is setting out its ‘social value’ – the principles, policies and actions we can take as a business to support and promote social, economic and environmental wellbeing in society.
In part 1, we particularly looked at how we can make a greater positive impact on the communities we live and work in. In the second of this series, we want to focus on our company’s greatest asset – our people – and so we begin this week’s blog with a question:
How can we support the people who work with us to prosper at work and across all aspects of their lives?