The UK Construction Blog

Galliford Try Construction pays the price for poor planning and lack of supervision

A construction company has been prosecuted after a cherry picker operator was catapulted 4m into the path of a moving bus on London’s Euston Road.

Two workers from Galliford Try Construction Limited were working on an apartment near St Pancras Renaissance Hotels and Chambers on the 4^th of March 2011. As the cherry picket was being reversed onto Euston Road, a double-decker had just turned the corner and struck the operator platform, catapulted the driver from the platform onto the tarmac in front of the moving bus. Amazingly he was pushed along by the bus, found under the front nearside with serious head, arm, pelvis and leg injuries, but returned to work earlier this year, despite the severe injuries.

The construction company, of Uxbridge, Middlesex, were fined £12, 000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of over £16, 000 after pleading guilty to two serious breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The Health and Safety Executive’s investigation concluded that the incident could have been avoided if the firm had fulfilled their duties to properly plan and supervise safe work. The hearing took place on the 11^th of April and HSE Inspector Paul Hems said:

“This worker narrowly escaped death after a series of events which almost seem unbelievable but in fact could have proved fatal.

“A 14-metres long slow-moving machine, not suitable for use on a public highway, was moved against the flow of traffic on to a three-lane road. Both workers were without high visibility clothing and there were no visible warning lights on the cherry-picker despite it being early morning and still dark which made it, and the men, effectively invisible to the bus driver.”

Despite the risks of using cherry pickets being well-known, the company failed to ensure safe movement of the vehicle between different compounds, and also failed to provide adequate levels of instruction and information to their employees.

Mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs), cherry pickets, scissor lifts and vehicle-mounted booms provide a safe way of working at height, allowing workers to reach high tasks quickly and easily. They have guard rails round the edge of the platform to prevent workers from falling off the platform, and can be used indoors and out.

When using MEWPs construction companies are advised to check ground conditions to ensure there is no risk of the device becoming unstable or overturning. Operators should be fully trained and competent, and should check to ensure that the MEWP cannot be caught on any protruding overhead hazards including scaffolding, trees and power lines. They should also assess the risk of passing traffic and take measures to prevent the risk of collisions.

Alan Cairns writes on a number of subjects including cherry picker hire and health and safety

Energy efficiency is likely to become more and more important in the construction of new houses in the immediate future, an expert has indicated.

Granada Secondary Glazing head of sales Ian Hall said it might take a few years before the general public realises what the government is trying to do with the Green Deal.

At the moment, it is more of a “buzz word thing”, he argued.

However, many organisations and people are thinking much more carefully about fuel conservation than they used to do, the specialist pointed out.

“We have all got fuel bills at home that are increasing,” Mr Hall continued.

In the future, energy conservation is likely to become a more important issue, he added.

Rising fuel bills could contribute to this shift, with British Gas parent company Centrica recently warning that power prices are likely to increase in the immediate future.

It suggested the typical household’s annual gas and electricity bill will heighten by £50 this year.

People thinking about implementing artwork in their home decor could consider using parts of the art to inspire their interior design.

Renaissance Arts Academy UK, Arts Retreat in France and drawing for the petrified managing director and creativity expert Elinor Martell noted: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

She said the layout and appearance of a home could exploit and accent themes from a painting or similar feature.

An interior that used this effect would be “very personal and creative”, the specialist stated, arguing it could give visitors the impression that the artwork was living or moving through the home.

She described it as a “conceptual extension of the art”.

People who use artwork in home design have a “real opportunity” to create a unique statement with their dwelling’s appearance, Ms Martell remarked.

However, National Home Improvement Council executive director Andrew Leech recently argued homeowners that are planning to put their property on the market ought to make the house appear as normal as they possibly can.

Personalisation is becoming more commonplace in interior design, according to Dulux colour and design manager Rebecca Thompson, who claimed members of the public “want to be putting their own stamp on the place”.

People who are engaged with decorating are using colours instead of blank canvasses, with red “filtering down from fashion” and reaching the mainstream, the specialist remarked.

The psychological effect particular tones have is “personal and incredibly subjective”, which makes it a “difficult thing to ground”, she declared.

However, certain hues can alter an individual’s mood and result in an emotive impact, the expert continued.

A Chartered psychologist Dr David Lewis recently claimed subdued tones such as brown, green and earthy colours can assist in comfort and relaxation, while red can create a sense of excitement.

Ms Thompson claimed Dulux is currently encouraging men and women to refresh their home decor in an uplifting and emotional way.

This “affects any space you create and how you would interact in it”, the representative pointed out.

First quarter of 2012, the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 0.2 per cent, with the output of the construction sector falling by 0.3 per cent, figures from the Office for National Statistics have revealed.

In volume terms, GDP remained flat in this timeframe when compared with the same period one year earlier.

The figures represent two consecutive quarters of contraction within the UK’s economy, which means the nation has returned to recession.

Every £1 spent in the building sector generates £2.84 for the wider economy, commentators called on the government to switch its outgoings towards “more productive capital spending”.

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Interior design and home improvement is currently undergoing a kind of renaissance due to the global economic downturn.

This is according to a spokesperson from Ideal Home Magazine, who noted members of the public are trying to undertake projects themselves, with women in particular more likely to attend DIY classes.

Homeowners are putting big projects off until they feel confident, but are refreshing and redecorating smaller areas of the house, the representative continued.

Wallpapering is considerably simpler than it used to be, they added, noting ready-pasted paper now exists.

“There’s a lot of choice out there,” the specialist remarked, arguing this applies to projects in all parts of a dwelling.

“Anything to save money is worth exploring and it’s got a lot easier,” the spokesperson declared.

Jason Orme, editor for Homebuilding & Renovating magazine, recently said there are a number of home improvement tasks that can be completed by laymen, including tiling and flooring.

White is now the only colour people want in their washrooms, a Bathroom City spokesman has said.

Aubergine, avocado, pink or primrose tones are not desired in this room any more, the representative continued.

He argued members of the public want to see “very modern, very chic, straight-line products”, which are free-standing and easy to clean.

Generally, men and women who wish to upgrade their bathroom have a predetermined budget and will stick to this when they are deciding what they want.

Some people are renovating a toilet room as part of a buy-to-sell project and these consumers try to purchase appliances that will suit the rest of the house, such as traditional suites to suit a dwelling with this appearance, the spokesperson added.

A total of four per cent of Brits intend to fit a new bathroom during the upcoming bank holiday weekends, statistics recently reported on by HSBC revealed.

Furthermore, 52 per cent of respondents are planning to perform some home improvements over these dates.

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Transport ministers have reached agreement on proposals to transform the existing patchwork of roads, railways, airports and canals into a unified European transport network.

The proposed Regulation for guidelines for Trans-European Networks(TEN-T) is designed to remove cross-border bottlenecks, upgrade infrastructure and streamline cross-border transport operations for passengers and businesses throughout the EU.

The cost of EU infrastructure development to match the demand for transport has been estimated at over €1.5 trillion (£1.25 trillion) for 2010-2030. The completion of the TEN-T network requires about €550bn until 2020 out of which some €215bn can be referred to the removal of the main bottlenecks.

By 2030 the new core European transport network will connect 86 main European ports with rail and road links, 37 key airports with rail connections into major cities. In addition, 15,000km of railway line will be upgraded to high speed and there will be 35 major cross-border projects to reduce bottlenecks.

Commission vice-president Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, said: “This is a very significant step forwards. Transport is the lifeblood of the European economy. And if it does not flow smoothly, our economy will weaken and fail to grow. Ministers have today given strong political backing for plans to build the strategic transport connections necessary to fuel Europe’s future economic growth.”

Ministers endorsed the Commission’s proposals for a new EU transport core network to be completed by 2030. The core network will establish the vital transport connections necessary to underpin the single market and fuel future economic growth and allow a more focused and effective targeting of EU transport investments.

The core network will be complemented by a comprehensive transport network feeding into it, with a time horizon of 2050.

The Commission’s proposals set common technical requirements for the TEN-T infrastructure to ensure seamless transport connections interoperability throughout the network. For example, the basic ITS systems to control the trains must apply on most parts of the TEN-T network and tunnel and road safety standards must apply throughout.

The new TEN-T guidelines introduce 10 implementing corridors on the core transport network. This is necessary to ensure co-ordinated development of the network. The corridors will bring together the member states concerned, as well as the relevant stakeholders. European co-ordinators will chair “corridor platforms” that will bring together all the stakeholders.