Health and Safety

Leaseholders facing big bills for remediation include many who themselves work in construction, but even those in the know have become powerless victims. Ian Weinfass investigates

Mark Eggleston is managing director and owner of timber specialist WJ Group When it comes to choosing suitable building materials, fire-retardant timber can be up there with the most complex items to specify. The task is not helped by confusing explanations that even the best timber traders struggle to understand.…

The information and support is out there to prevent deaths – now it’s time for the industry to commit to better practices, writes Peter Bennett

With sites initially closed during the first UK-wide lockdown, constructors had to convince the government that the industry was safe to continue working during the pandemic. No area was arguably more difficult to safeguard against the spread of coronavirus than work done at height, whether it involved workers traversing narrow…

If humans can’t always be trusted to work safely at height, could a different kind of intelligence step in? Paul Thompson investigates

A new temporary-works access system offers a rapidly installed alternative to large-scale scaffolding. Paul Thompson reports

A year ago, the CLC was spurred into action as the pandemic caused confusion and closures across the sector. Ian Weinfass speaks to co-chair Andy Mitchell about its initial response and how the industry has fared in the past year

From Mark Farmer’s 2016 industry review, to the aftermath of the Grenfell fire and the government’s Construction Playbook, modern methods of construction have been put forward as the focus for new ways of building. James Wilmore examines whether the industry is ready to do this and what’s keeping it from…

Budget cuts had put the Health and Safety Executive under immense strain even before the pandemic, so how useful has it proved in the period since every workplace became a health risk? Construction News investigates

We all bore witness to the terrible events at Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017 and we owe it to the 72 victims of that fire, bereaved families and the surviving former residents and their families to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again. While we await the final…