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May/June 2023 issue

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Construction
News

Unite demands action over migrant workers living on construction site

Open-access content Friday 22nd June 2018
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

Unite demands action over migrant workers living on construction site

It has also called for legal action to be taken against any companies, contractors or subcontractors who allow "these dangerous practices to occur".

Unite received a tip off from local resident and former Labour London Assembly member Murad Qureshi and investigated the construction site at Abercorn Place estate in St John's Wood, north London, which is owned by the company Kunta Kinte. The 1950s former council build is known as the Cricketers because its three blocks -- Bradman, Warner and Verity -- are named after famous pre-second world war cricketers.

It found that a group of non-EU nationals were involved in renovating several apartments on the Warner block. In December 2017, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported that Kunta Kinte, which is run by Mukurrum Sattar with his relatives and their firms, owns the leases to 30 of the 35 flats in the three blocks.

In early June, Unite's regional officer Paul Lomax visited Abercorn Place and observed a green sofa, clothes hanging on a washing line, several mattresses and bedding, along with food containers at the site.

He wrote to Westminster Council's chief executive Stuart Love and copied in Westminster's building control department and the HSE to raise his concerns and urged both organisations to take urgent action as the workers were potentially in serious physical danger.

"Workers must never be allowed to live on a construction site, the potential for serious injury is huge and there are also massive occupational health issues that need to be considered," he said.

"It is absolutely imperative that Westminster council and the HSE immediately take responsibility for this dangerous site and ensure that no one is living on this or any other building site."

Lomax said legal action should be taken against any companies, contractors or subcontractors that allow these dangerous practices to happen.

Unite told IOSH Magazine that Westminster's building control department had responded and informed Unite that it had no powers to control work practices on the site. It added that it could only enforce building regulations and directed the union to the HSE, which has powers under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 to enforce safe working practices.

A spokesperson from the HSE told IOSH Magazine: "HSE has visited the Warner House site twice recently. The first occasion was as part of our campaign of inspection visits in London. During this visit a prohibition notice was served preventing all work on site. Other enforcement action to address safety management matters was also taken.

"The second visit was made on 4 June in direct response to a complaint received and inspectors were told that there were no workers sleeping on site. Inspectors found no evidence of workers sleeping on site at either visit."

The HSE said that it would undertake follow-up work with the principal contractor.

In December 2017, the Hampstead and Highgate Express reported that Labour councillor Paul Dimoldenberg had called for an inquiry after the freehold of the entire site and almost all the properties had been transferred to Kunta Kinte, which was overseeing the renovation work.

Dimoldenberg wrote to Westminster council's planning and housing chief Ed Watson and asked how Kunta Kinte had bought up enough leaseholds to trigger a tenant buy out of the estate. The Hampstead and Highgate Express reported that in housing law, tenants can acquire a building's freehold if 50% opt in. Tenants are barred from doing so if they own more than two flats.

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 Singapore construction deaths halved in 2017

Thursday 21st June 2018
In 2017, there were 12 fatalities in construction and landscaping, down from 24 the previous year. However, speaking at a workplace safety seminar hosted by the Singapore Contractors Association Limited (Scal) on 20 June, John Ng, WSH chair, noted that in the first five months of this year the figures had ticked up, with two more deaths than in the same period in 2017.
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 Balfour Beatty repeatedly put workers at risk of developing HAVS

Monday 18th June 2018
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that between 2002 and 2011, Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions (BBUS) had regularly exposed workers to the debilitating condition while they were operating handheld power tools such as hydraulic breakers and floor saws. The HSE found that although the company had detected ill health early on, it did not act on this information to prevent ongoing exposure. BBUS failed to assess the risk to workers’ health, did not adopt control measures and had no suitable system of health surveillance in place.
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 ‘Phoenix’ steel fabricator boss disqualified for evading fine

Wednesday 27th June 2018
Michael Allen, 64, was a director of Allen and Hunt Construction Engineers, a specialist manufacturer and builder of steel-framed structures based in Derbyshire.In July 2014, a worker was using two homemade crawling boards to replace fibreboard roofing panels on a barn in Buxton when he fell 6 m, seriously injuring his head, hip and lung.The company pleaded guilty to breaching ss 4(1), 7 and 9(2) of the Working at Height Regulations. It was fined £267,000 plus £7,750 costs at Derby Magistrates’ Court in November 2016.
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 MSP criticises first minister for avoiding client responsibility on Aberdeen bypass safety

Friday 15th June 2018
Lewis Macdonald was responding to Nicola Sturgeon’s statement at first minister’s questions on 7 June that responsibility for health and safety on site “rests with the contractor”.Macdonald said the government as client for the project should take a hands-on, proactive approach to health and safety through its agencies such as Transport Scotland, rather than leave it to the contractors, Aberdeen Roads.
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 UAE regulates work hours to limit labourers’ sun exposure

Tuesday 12th June 2018
Workers such as those on construction sites, security guards and delivery drivers will be forbidden from working outside between 12.30pm and 3pm, until 15 September. The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE), which announced the ban, told IOSH Magazine the summer timings “do not reduce employees’ working hours”. Instead, the working day will be divided into a morning and evening shift, totalling eight hours.
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 HSE business plan targets mental health, ISO 45001 and major hazard industries

Tuesday 3rd July 2018
The plan, which maps out action over the next 12 months, identifies four priority areas.Under leading and engaging with others to improve OSH, the HSE plans to deliver the next phase of the Health and Work programme, with a focus on work-related stress, reducing levels of occupational lung disease and musculoskeletal disorders.In Q4, the HSE says it will publish revised guidance for employers on how to assess and manage work-related mental ill health, which includes links to the new mental healthcare standards.
Open-access content
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