A Review of the Arrangements for

Managing Health and Safety at ABC

Project

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................ 3

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 4
Aim.......................................................................................................................................................... 4
Objectives ............................................................................................................................................... 4
Methodology .......................................................................................................................................... 4
Workplace Description ........................................................................................................................... 6
The Role of the Health and Safety Practitioner at ABC London Project................................................. 7
Critical Review and Analysis of ABC London Project Health and Safety Management ........................ 10
Risk Profile ............................................................................................................................................ 10
Leadership ............................................................................................................................................ 16
Worker Involvement............................................................................................................................. 18
Competence ......................................................................................................................................... 19
Management ........................................................................................................................................ 21
Compliance ........................................................................................................................................... 22
Evaluation of Improvements Required ................................................................................................ 23
Conclusions and Recommendations .................................................................................................... 27
Bibliography and Referencing .............................................................................................................. 30

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Executive Summary
After the systematic review of ABC Project health and safety management system, it can be
concluded that there is a health and safety management system in place, but it is not effectively
managed and implemented. To ensure its effectiveness and management requires significant visible
commitment from the project senior management. This will drive positive health and safety culture,
improve the project safety standards, improve workers' confidence and productivity.

The project senior management team (Project Manager, Commercial Manager and Construction
manager) are recommended to attend IOSH leading safely course. This course will equip the senior
management in understanding their roles and responsibilities in effectively implementing the health
and safety management system. After the training, the senior management team will be able to show
visible commitment in site health and safety issues by carrying out safety tours, inspections and
participating in the safety meetings.

From the conversation (interview) with some workers, it was identified that workers are exposed to
possible mental health illnesses as a result of the working culture, blame and bully culture by the site
managers. The health and safety manager is advised to undertake a mental health first aider training
course, after completion he will be the point of contact and able to provide support for workers who
are experiencing mental health issues or emotional distress. Also, it is recommended that the site
management team organise mental health awareness workshop and campaigns quarterly, toolbox
talks on mental health should be given to the workers this will educate the workforce on mental health
illness. It was also recommended that ABC Group liaise with an organisation that provides 24/7 mental
health supports to assist workers during out of working hours.

Lapses in control and monitoring of workers' competence were identified. Sub-contractor line
managers are expected to follow the organisation procedures when employing the services of workers
to ensure workers with adequate skill and competence are contracted to avoid possible accidents on
site. Less competent workers are a risk to the workforce and could result in a fatality which could
attract fines, possible imprisonment, compensation, reduced productivity, increase in insurance
premiums and damage the organisation's reputation. Site managers and subcontractor line managers
should be trained on "Workers control and monitoring of competence" and workers who carry out
tasks using machines or equipment should be assessed on the job on the first day after induction.

The health and safety manager is tasked with monitoring, managing and ensuring the effective
implementation of these recommended improvements. Given the size of this project, it is
recommended that the health and safety manager works towards attaining CMIOSH level and an
additional health and safety professional is employed to assist the health and safety manager in the
effective implementation of these recommended improvements.

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Introduction
This report shall carry out a systematic review of the existing arrangements in managing health and
safety at ABC London Project. ABC Group is the principal contractor for this project, the company
engage in different types of projects ranging from office buildings to residential and employ the
services of sub-contractors to carry out various task on this project. This report tends to review the
leadership commitment, management, worker’s involvement, competences, and risk profile of the
organisation in managing health and safety and to recommend actions plan for improvement.

Aim
This report aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the existing arrangement for managing the Health
and Safety on ABC London Project and to recommend action plans for improving the project health
and safety performance.

Objectives
➢ To evaluate the existing health and safety management arrangements of the organisation.

➢ To assess the level of safety leadership in complying with the health and safety legal
requirement and identify areas that need improvements.

➢ To carry out a detailed examination of site activities, to identify and prioritise existing hazards,
and to suggest control measures.

➢ To provide suitable action plans that will improve the organisation overall health and safety
performance.

Methodology
A descriptive qualitative methodology was implemented in this report to enable detailed descriptions
of specific findings and situations using interviews, observations and document reviews. This includes
using the following research tools;

➢ A thorough workplace systematic health and safety Inspection was carried out together with
the health and safety manager, the inspection was conducted to assist in the findings of the
following;

• To identify the existing potential physical, health and welfare hazards

• The existing organisational health and safety practices and procedures adopted.

• Any evidence of non-compliance to the legal legislations

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 • Decide on an action plan for identified issues (as per record)

➢ A review of the organisation Health, Safety, and Environmental Policy documents, the
construction phase plan, Risk Assessments, accident/incident reporting register and
procedures, hazards identification, risk and fire management plan, emergency procedures,
training records, permit to work system in place, health and safety inspections. Review of
these documents will assist in finding organisation trends and attitudes towards health and
safety.

➢ A series of interviews were carried out; these include but formal and informal interviews. Site
Logistics Manager, Project Contracts Manager, Project Director, Supervisors, contractors, and
workers were interviewed. The purpose of this interview is to confirm the benchmarks that
exist and assess the worker's duties and understanding of Health and Safety. The workforce
was also consulted and engaged in discussions relating to the site health and safety culture.

Findings from this research are presented as a narrative discussion where the organisation health
and safety management system is addressed, identify shortcomings and recommend improvement
on the top three most important health and safety management issues.

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Workplace Description
The chosen project for this study is the ABC London Project which is prestigious new building luxury
apartments and commercial buildings located in North London. The project began sixteen months
ago and expected to be completed by summer 2020. The project will include the construction of 200
residential apartments. The apartments comprise of the studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-
bedroom flats, and the penthouses.

The project has about 300 multinational employees of diverse construction operatives and
professionals working from Monday to Saturday. The professions consist of; ground workers,
bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, dry liners, landscape workers, securities, site logistics team, and
civil, structural, electrical mechanical engineers, and occupational nurse. The employees comprise of
all gender, male and female between the ages of 18- 58.

The entrance to the site is via a manned turnstile with the use of access cards to control unauthorized
access of members of the public and with two delivery gates located on the west and north side of
the project. All delivery coming to the site are pre-booked and allocated to the appropriate delivery
gate where the traffic marshals are in a position to bank the delivery into the site. The delivery area
is located within 200 meters from the gate and away from site plant access.

There are the vehicle and pedestrian segregation implemented sitewide with the use of barriers and
heras fencing to ensure safe transport movement on site. The transport on-site includes the delivery
lorry, forklifts, and road sweepers. The waste area is located near the delivery area in a segregated
area. This is where all the site waste is stored in wheelie bins ready to be collected by the waste
management company. The waste is removed on-site with the use of a compactor that attends site
twice a day and collects all waste. The waste is segregated and removed at a specific time by a waste
removal compactor. There is a material storage area on site, each subcontractor has its allocated
storage area where materials are stored before usage.

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The Role of the Health and Safety Practitioner at ABC London
Project

As a health and safety practitioner, the health and safety of the entire workforce is important, and the
health and safety practitioner has to ensure workers are safe and healthy as possible. This can be
achieved through effective planning and implementing appropriate procedures. Effective
management of health and safety risks on ABC London project requires the attribute of a leader and
a manager. A leader develops and communicates a vision to the workforce, encourages, motivates
and inspire workers to commit to the vision (HSE, 2012). While a manager initiates a plan, set goals,
assign resources, arrange schedule and monitors activities (HSE, 2012). The health and safety
practitioner plays a major role in ensuring the workforce, neighbours and visitors are not exposed to
danger as a result of the construction work. The health and safety manager has been in position two
months before the start of the project working with the project manager to set the project in motion.
The health and safety manager is experienced, with the NEBOSH Certification, and IOSH Technical
member and deemed competent to manage the health and safety aspect of the project.

The Health and Safety Manager has been with the organisation for five years, he has been involved
in other projects and equipped to ensure adequate safety measures are implemented. The Health
and Safety Manager was involved in producing the organisation's health and safety policy statement,
he manages and ensures the organisation's safety policy is implemented and relevant during the
project. He chairs the weekly safety coordination meeting with site managers, sub-contractor
managers and workers representative in attendance. Besides, the health and safety manager hold a
monthly health and safety meeting with the senior project management team to discuss health and
safety matters. Every sub-contractor on site has a visiting Health and Safety advisor who visits site
fortnightly to carry out a site inspection on their workers' site activities and produce a report of findings
which is sent to the Health and Safety Manager for actioning and monitoring.

The health and safety manager oversee the daily health and safety aspects of the project in ensuring
all measures are in place and workers have the right attitude towards safety. Site inductions are done
by the health and safety manager on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for new starters on-site, this
induction provides general site safety information, site operations, and their responsibilities. It
concentrates on the safety aspects of the site. Daily routine workplace inspections are done by the
safety manager to inspect general site activities, work areas and attitudes to spot unsafe act and
decide on actions for improvement. During incident or accident on site, the health and safety manager
carry out investigation to determine the root cause of the accident and decide on appropriate control
measures that should be implemented to ensure the accident does not repeat on-site.

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One of the main tasks of the Health and Safety manager is to conduct risk assessments concerning
the task of sub-contractors on site and review them against the Risk Assessments and Method
Statement (RAMS) submitted by the sub-contractors to ensure all risks are highlighted and
appropriate control measures are in place. Every sub-contractor on site have their written RAMS,
which is reviewed and approved by the health and safety manager before commencing site duties.
The RAMS are reviewed every three months to ensure they are relevant to the site activities and
updated when there are changes to site activities or after an incident by the sub-contractors and
resubmitted for approval. The health and safety manager ensures the RAMS submitted by the sub-
contractors are suitable and sufficient. Where concerns of asbestos and lead fumes are present in
the workplace, the services of asbestos removal specialists and occupational hygienist are contracted
to assess the area. In most cases where possible, the asbestos is removed from the site or protected
from the workers. A special risk assessment is carried out by the asbestos specialist to ensure the
safety of the workers. The occupational hygienist manages the lead fumes in the workplace by
assessing the area, produce a risk assessment and decide on safety measures to be implemented.
The services of specialists are contracted to manage asbestos and lead fumes because the Health
and Safety Manager does not deem himself competent enough in these aspects to manage, assess
the areas and implement adequate control measures.

High-risk activities such as working in a confined space, welding and live electricity works which
require a permit to work are monitored by the Health and Safety Manager. He issues a Permit to Work
form to workers engaged in such activities which are classed as high risk, these permit to work
ensures the safety of workers whilst the task is done. The permit decides on safety measures,
procedures of activities, decide on appropriate tools and how the task should be safely done. At the
end of the task, the Permit to Work is returned to the Health and Safety Manager who inspects the
work area and ensure the safety of the area before the permit is signed off. The signing off must be
done at least one hour before the end of the shift. The purpose of this is to prevent fire outbreak after
the work is completed.

Professional Ethics

ABC Group operates on the principle of honesty, integrity, fairness, trustworthy and respect for others.
The Health and Safety Manager conforms with the principles of organisation and that of IOSH. As a
member of the IOSH, the health and safety practitioner adhere to the IOSH Code of Conduct, which
has its core image of “Safer and healthier world of work” (IOSH, 2019).

The code pertains mainly to the activities of members as health and safety practitioners. Members
are expected to conduct themselves professionally and owe major loyalty to people at risk and should
endeavour to ensure professional impartiality in discharging their duties.

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The Health and Safety manager offers honest judgment to health and safety matters in the
organisation and ensures the organisation adheres to the relevant legal requirement. He ensures that
every shortcoming of the organisation is adequately addressed and communicated to the directors.
The Health and Safety manager attends the local IOSH meetings, conferences, and seminars to keep
him abreast of the changes in the health and safety industry. The internal development of the health
and safety manager is of concern to the organisation; hence, he was enrolled for a NEBOSH diploma
course. The Health and Safety Practitioner is aware of his competence level and only undertakes
tasks based on his competence and experience and will refer others task which he feels he is not
equipped to handle, such as the assessments of asbestos.

The Health and Safety Practitioner advises the site managers in complex situations and in an event
where the safety of the workforce is concerned. In an event where the advice given to the managers
is ignored, the health and safety practitioner makes the manager aware of its consequences and
initiates an unsafe attitude action which is reported to the project director. The site managers and
sub-contractor’s managers are expected to adhere to the advice of the safety practitioner and
communicate this advice to their workforce.

The Health and Safety Manager implements good leadership qualities, leads by example and ensures
his attitudes does reflect on his position. The confidentiality of information held by the health and
safety practitioner should be kept intact and not breached in any way.

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Critical Review and Analysis of ABC London Project Health and
Safety Management
The company has adopted the HSG65 guidance and implementing the OHSAS 18001 intending to
migrate to ISO 45001 early next year. Currently, the health and safety manager is keen to ensure the
effective implementation of the health and management system in this project.

Risk Profile
According to the HSE, “The risk profile of an organisation informs all aspects of the approach to
leading and managing its health and safety risks.”1

Every construction project is faced with some level of risk, the ability to spot and manage the risks
involves skill, strategic planning and being capable of making the right decision on time (Jones, 2018).
Once risks turn into reality, it can hinder the possibility of completing the project. When the risk is
adequately managed it can lead to an increase in profits, improve the client’s relationship with the
possibility of growth and increase in business.

ABC London project is faced with some core risks which are, financial risk, operational risks
associated with human errors and shortage of labour, and health and safety risks. A construction
company such as ABC Group need to ensure that the mentioned risks are appropriately managed
and failure to adequately manage these risks will result in a financial loss to the organisation. At the
moment, ABC London senior management team are aware of the potential risks associated with this
project and have appointed individuals from different fields, from the project director to the site workers
to assist in managing these risks.

The senior project management team is aware of the financial risks that may affect the organisation
assets and imperil shareholders investments and are trying to ensure the organisation financial risks
are adequately managed. The organisation board members are required to manage these risks in
accordance with the Financial Reporting Council of the UK Corporate Governance Code (2016),
which places responsibility on the organisation board in managing the principal risks facing the
organisation, including risks that will threaten future organisation financial performance and describe
how these risks will be managed or mitigated. The financial risks of ABC London project can be
managed if adequate measures are being implemented by adequately managing the health and
safety risks. Failure to adequately manage the health and safety risks will possibly increase the
number of serious incidents, which could result into fines, compensation, increase in insurance

1
HSE, 2013. ‘Managing for health and safety’

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premiums, reduction in workers morale leading to low productivity, and damage company’s reputation
which could affect the chances of winning future contracts.

Shortage of labour

The shortage of labour to complete the project affects productivity goals and increases deficiencies
in managing health and safety which could lead to an increase in incident and accident rates. As
stated earlier, about 300 workers are carrying out various tasks on ABC projects, this means without
adequate manpower the project will experience delays in completing the project according to
schedule. There has been a rapid turnover of workers as in most cases, workers managing vital
positions on-site i.e plant operators and supervisors, there is a possibility of lapses in the effective
management of health and safety on site. Shortage of labour has been affecting the ABC London
Project, most especially during the summer period. As the workforce consists of workers from different
ethnic groups, individuals travel out of the country for seasonal and summer holidays, during this
period there is a shortage of labour. Site subcontractors have been struggling to deal with a shortage
of workers and struggling to fill the vacant position with competent people during the summer period.
In most cases, the vacant positions are filled by workers who have little or no experience. This could
lead to additional health and safety risks as these new workers are not familiar with the work
environment and would take some time to adapt to the environment and the work pattern of the
organisation. The health and safety manager is aware that safety is a risk factor that should be
considered when working with new employees as they need adequate training to understand the rules
and be able to spot unsafe actions and situations on site. Accident report shows that most of the
accident occurs during the summer period as there is a huge turnover of workers.

To tackle the shortage of labour, the health and safety manager has advised sub-contractors to offer
an increase in wages and allowances to ensure competent individuals are employed. Also, company
ethics that appreciates hard work and dedication should be adopt, trainings to be provided to aid skill
advancement of the workers.

Subcontractor Error

Having to deal with subcontractors who do not perform as expected on the ABC project is one of the
risks affecting the project. In a situation where subcontractors default in their contractual duties can
completely crash the project schedule and completion dates. ABC Group has been able to employ
the services of subcontractors who have managed their work process and match their competency to
works. No contractor begins a job to default the work. Nevertheless, there have been some defaults
in the subcontractor's activities where errors are made to the work layouts, i.e the plumbing company
made some error at the initial stage by not testing the pipe fittings before the dry liners began erecting
the walls, after which a leak was detected. The wall compartment of some floor levels was removed

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and reconstructed causing a delay in completion of work. Most of these defaults can be attributed to
the shortage of workforce and replacing them with workers with little or no experience.

Active monitoring of tasks done by subcontractors is one of the ways of avoiding subcontractor errors.
The site managers should monitor subcontractors’ activities and look out for signs which indicate that
subcontractors are derailing from the initial plan and report to the project team. These can be
communicated during the coordination meetings.

Health and Safety Risks

Ensuring the health and safety of workers on ABC London is the top priority, despite rapid changes
in site condition which produce new hazards from time to time, the health and safety manager is
struggling to reduce the number of accidents occurring. Incidents and accidents happen on sites,
which vary from near misses, minor injuries, and fatalities. The goal of the health and safety manager
is to operate an accident-free work environment and ensure workers return home safely.

In the event of dangerous occurrences or fatalities, these can cause work to stop and an investigation
from the Health and Safety Executive, the local authorities and other enforcing authorities. There is a
possibility of prosecution by the enforcement authority, which may lead to a huge fine and possible
imprisonment and this may affect the company’s reputation. This causes a delay in the completion of
the project and a huge financial risk to the company. Dangerous occurrence, fatality or even less
serious incidents has the possibility of affecting the morale of the workers and cause a reduction in
productivity.

To reduce the occurrence of incidents and accidents, proper planning of site activities should be
implemented. This can be achieved by risk assessing the task to be done and highlighting areas
where there could be risks to workers. Sub-contractors are required to submit risk assessments and
method statements for each task to be done on site, to ensure that risks associated with the individual
task is identified. The risk assessment is expected to identify health and safety risks and control
measures to adequately manage these risks. Risk assessments and method statements of every task
to be done on-site is checked by the health and safety practitioner. Subcontractors produce risk
assessments for each task and submit them to ABC health and safety manager for review before
commencing the task.

On ABC London Project, the following health and safety risk are experienced, these includes;

Exposure to adverse weather conditions; Adverse weather conditions, be it the winter weather or
the summer heatwave are conditions that make construction sites more hazardous. The rain, heavy
winds, snows and the drop and increase in temperature can make all outdoor activities more
dangerous. Workers are exposed to the risk of slips and falls, cold stress, dehydration, heat strokes,
and heat exhaustion. During these periods, there is an increase in accident rates on-site as workers

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find it difficult to adapt to the adverse weather change. ABC has been able to adopt a procedure to
tackle these adverse weathers but there are still some shortcomings.

From accident statistics, it shows that some accident recorded at the beginning of the year are caused
by adverse weather conditions. Traffic marshals, who manage site deliveries have high rates of
exposure. Jackets and head warmer are worn by the traffic marshal to reduce the effects of cold, but
these does not provide complete protection as workers are still exposed to cold, as this does not
protect against rain. Cold stress is one of the biggest risks associated with working during the winter
period. The body is exposed to low temperature and if not adequately controlled it can lead to serious
illnesses like frostbite and hypothermia. While in summer periods, workers experience dehydration
and heatstroke. There has been a reported incident relating to dehydration. One of the traffic marshals
was said to have collapsed on-site as a result of dehydration during the high temperature in August.
The health and safety manager advised that all subcontractors to give out toolbox talks on adverse
weather conditions after this incident but there should be a measure in place to reduce the effect of
dehydration. Although water fountains were seen in some buildings, these are not accessible to the
traffic marshals or outdoor workers.

A great way of ensuring workers' safety is to hold a refresher workshop on adverse weather conditions
to enable workers to detect early signs of adverse weather effects and to know actions to take to
prevent the effects. Possible solutions are job rotation, workers taking regular breaks, water fountains
should be made accessible to traffic marshals and outdoor workers, provision of sun creams and
reducing the amount of exposure by planning work activities in a shielded area.

Dust; Dust is one of the health and safety hazards on site especially when the ground workers are
cutting slabs, waste operatives sweeping the floors, handyman cutting woods and when the waste
compactor is removing site waste. Dust has been on the increase in ABC London Project, which had
been highlighted by the health and safety practitioner. Sub-contractors are advised to monitor their
employee’s activities to ensure dust is reduced to the required minimum exposure. There is evidence
of toolbox talks and daily activity briefing on dust from some of the site sub-contractors, but this is not
enough to protect workers. Workers carrying out tasks that generates a high amount of dust are seen
wearing a dust ABC but on investigation, it was known that they were not wearing the right dust ABC,
and this does not offer complete protection against exposure. An increase in exposure to dust can
cause workers to suffer from lung cancer, asthma, and silicosis as a result of dust exposure (Amyotte,
Pegg and Khan, 2009). Not only will these affect the health of workers but could lead to legal action
against the organisation and visit from the HSE where the organisation could be issued improvement
notice or prohibition notice. In a more serious case, fine or compensation could be paid out by the
company to exposed workers. Protecting workers against dust exposure will require proper planning
of work activities, wet cutting for the concrete workers whilst cutting slabs, mounting of local exhaust

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ventilation on cutting machines to extract dust from the cutting machine. Also, dust generated from
compactor should be dampened down by wet spraying the bins with water and appropriate selection
of dust ABC and RPE.

Mental health illness; Mental health illness is an ongoing issue in the construction industry, at ABC
London Project, workers are advised and encouraged to speak up when faced with work-related
issues that could cause mental health illness. The silent epidemic is digging deep and causing a lot
of mental breakdown of workers. Stress, depression, and anxiety are the key mental health issues on
sites. From investigation, site operatives on ABC London express concerns on possible mental health
illness due to the working procedures, workers rushing to meet up with the deadlines, having to work
extra and long hours, the blame and bully culture by the ABC site managers. There was an incident
where one of the sub contractor's supervisor was spoken to and bullied in an unprofessional manner.
This incident was reported to the health and safety practitioner and the site project team but was not
adequately handled as the bully culture continues. If these concerns are not properly managed, it
could lead to mental health illness. Although the site project team is keen to ensure mental health
issues are appropriately managed, there are no adequate procedures in place to achieve this. Mental
health management on site should be one of the top priorities of the project team, without a healthy
mindset work cannot be completed. The health and safety practitioner should introduce procedures
to manage mental health illness and ensure workers are not exposed to factors that may trigger
mental health illness whilst on site. The health and safety manager can manage mental health by
involving the entire workforce and managers on mental health awareness campaigns, workshops,
and seminars. This will provide information on mental health illness causes, symptoms and how to
manage mental health illness. Site managers attitudes to sub-contractors and the general workforce
should be monitored and any concerns raised should be treated as important rather than casual like
in the past. Feasible deadlines should be set on task and support given to workers when needed.

Transport movement and pedestrians; Movement of vehicles and pedestrians when dealing with
deliveries and site plants is one of the core risks associated with ABC London Project. As a
construction site, many delivery vehicles attend site daily and these mainly from different contractors
supplying construction materials. In most cases, drivers of these delivery lorries are not familiar with
the site layouts and pose a huge risk to workers on site. Forklift and other site plants ply the site
premises at different times during working hours. The site is segregated with the use of barriers and
signs to mark pedestrian walkways to ensure the safety of pedestrians. There are crossing points at
the end of each walkway leading to site buildings. Despite the pedestrian walkways, workers are seen
walking on vehicle routes and barriers used for segregation are removed from position, this exposes
workers to possible collision from moving vehicles and site plants. There are series of changes done
to the site walkways weekly and these should be adequately managed by the site logistics contractor
and monitored by the health and safety manager. Some site operatives mentioned that they are often

14
not aware of the changes done to the walkway, as they are used to the initial pedestrian route on site.
Control of site transport and pedestrians requires proper planning, communicate changes on
pedestrians' walkways to workers, monitor walkways to ensure barriers used to segregate walkways
are in place, walkways should be visibly marked, speed limits sign placed on-site vehicle routes and
possible speed bumps to be placed on roads.

Manual handling; Manual handling is one of the potential hazard workers are exposed to on-site.
The need for carrying heavy or bulky loads over a long distance is of concern to the health and safety
practitioner. According to records, in the last quarter, there have been some series of incidents
involving manual handling. Workers carry out regular manual handling tasks which involves lifting,
pushing and reaching when discharging site duties. General operatives are more especially at risk as
they perform more of manual handling tasks when sweeping, moving materials and pushing bins to
the bin storage area. Workers are required to adopt appropriate manual handling techniques whilst
carrying out site duties to prevent risk to manual handling. There is evidence of toolbox talks on
manual handling giving to workers by their manager, but it is not sufficient to protect workers from the
risk of poor manual handling. A suggested solution to risks of poor manual handling requires tasks to
be appropriately planned to include the use of lifting aids i.e the forklift can be used to move bins to
the storage area. Also, manual handling training should be given to workers who are involved in
manual handling activities, this will ensure that they implement appropriate manual handling
techniques whilst carrying out tasks.

Currently, it is evidence that the project team is concerned about the health and safety issues listed
above on this project, but there's no strong leadership commitment and procedures in place to
adequately manage the health and safety risk. Health and safety issues are treated lightly and only
planned reactive measures are being implemented. The senior management have procedures in
place when there is an incident or near miss, but this should not be the case, as effective management
of health and safety requires a Plan, Do, Check, Act methodology to be implemented.

Activities where the risk assessment identifies a significant risk, the control measures suggested in
the assessments should be adequate to combat the risk. In most cases, the control measures are not
fully implemented, this may be because of financial or operational reasons. The risk assessment
assessor will make feasible factors when deciding on the control measures considering the financial
cost, the practicability of implementing the controls and the time constraint for implementing these
controls.

Not all control measures can be immediately implemented, the senior management needs to adopt a
system that allows prioritisation of control measures. However, effective initial controls should be
implemented pending the time a long-lasting control can be implemented. Implementing the control
measures required to manage the risk should consider the following:

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 ➢ The reasonably practicability of the control measures;

➢ The cost;

➢ Risks probability;

➢ The consequences;

➢ Residual risks;

➢ Workers acceptability;

➢ Duration of control i.e long or short term.

Knowing that control measures are not instantly applied, the health and safety management system
allows for control measures to be prioritised which also, allows temporary controls to be implemented
until more effective long-lasting control can be implemented.

In a situation where substantial cost may be required to manage the risk, either by training or purchase
of materials, a capital expense is made by the health and safety manager to the commercial manager.
At present, the commercial manager has not rejected any vital request from the health and safety
manager, this shows commitment to risks management by the senior management team.
Nonetheless, some visible leadership commitments are lacking in this project and this will be
addressed in detail under “Leadership”.

The health and safety manager is concern about the management of health and safety in areas where
the project is at risk. He has made his concerns known to the senior project management team on
developing the health and safety culture of workers on-site and has agreed to provide safety
workshops to the entire workforce. This can be classified as a positive step in the effective
management of health and safety on this project.

Leadership
According to the HSE, “An organisation will never be able to achieve the highest standards of health
and safety management without the active involvement of directors. External stakeholders viewing
the organisation will observe the lack of direction.”2

Commitment and engagement from senior management is the most essential foundation element for
an effective health and safety management system in any organisation (Mone and London, 2018).
The senior management has the responsibility of ensuring effective health and safety management

2
HSE, 2013. ‘Leading health and safety at work.’ INDG417. London, HSE Books.

16
system is in place and managed. Therefore, if ABC senior management demonstrates visible
commitments to health and safety, this will set a standard for all workers and drive positive attitudes
towards health and safety. This will also, send positive messages to workers, potential clients and
fulfil insurance company obligations which show that the company is keen on managing risks and
ensuring the safety of workers.

ABC senior management have listed objectives for the management of health, safety and welfare on
this project by setting a clear commitment in the health and safety policy statement. The senior
management has also allocated funds for managing health and safety, these are good signs to show
a solid foundation, but this is just as far as senior management leadership commitment entails on this
project.

The senior management has been advised by the health and safety manager to undertake training in
health and safety as this will provide a clear understanding and obligations expected by the senior
management in terms of health and safety. But at this moment no representative from the senior
management has attended the training, this shows the level of willingness from the senior
management. The project lacks board-level champion in health and safety, no member of the senior
team is tasked and passionate in ensuring about health and safety matters. Although health and
safety matters are discussed in the board meetings, this is not sufficient as they have not set
measurable key performance indicators as encouraged by the HSE in HSG653.

However, the senior managers implement safety procedures whilst on site which includes the wearing
of appropriate PPE and using designated walkways and access routes. There will be massive
improvements in safety culture if senior managers engage in safety tours, they would be able to spot
lapses in compliance with the set health and safety policy, understand the working environments
better and challenge on safe acts or actions which does not comply with the organisation’s health and
safety policy. There is health and safety leadership within the organisation as site managers are
responsible for managing health and safety in their respective areas, but this is not visible as all
matters are being left to the health and safety manager. In most cases, the managers are being
quarried for unsafe acts or action by the health and safety manager.

Senior management not participating in the health and safety tour makes it difficult to be aware of all
the significant risks associated with activities on site. If senior management is not aware of the
significant risk associated with site activities, it will be practically difficult to implement appropriate
control measures to combat the risk. To be able to appropriate control all significant risks, the senior
management should communicate and involve the workforce and participate in the safety tours.

3
HSE, 2013:48-60

17
The Project leadership team recognise the impacts of health and safety decision to the organisation,
client’s relationship in winning future contracts and improving the business, which has made the
management team looking forward to initiating "Working Safely" campaign. At this moment, the date
this campaign will commence is unknown as it is been discussed at the board level. The earlier this
campaign is put into force, the greater chances of reducing the accident rates and ensuring a safer
working environment. The senior management is more involved in reactive measures rather than
proactive in terms of health and safety issues. More noticeable actions are taken by the senior
management whenever there is an accident, they provide resources and support to manage the
accident but not enough measures in place to prevent the possibility of a potential accident. A
proactive level of health and safety is required from the senior management to reduce the amount of
ill health and serious injuries in ABC Project.

Worker Involvement
HSE Chair, Judith Hackitt said that “I find it hard to imagine how one could ever put in place an
effective workplace health and safety system that did not include real participation and engagement
of the workforce.”4 This shows that involving workers is key to the effective management of health
and safety in an organisation.

ABC London project has a weekly safety meeting, which is chaired by the health and safety manager
and each sub-contractor on site has a safety representative that attends the weekly safety meetings.
The safety representative expresses workers' safety concerns during the meetings and solutions for
managing these concerns are suggested by members and actioned where possible. The safety
representative from each sub-contractor on-site is chosen by the workers every two weeks and it
rotates within the entire workforce, thus giving everyone a chance to attend and be part of the safety
meeting. Findings from the health and safety managers’ routine inspections are also discussed in the
safety committee meetings. Meeting minutes are sent out to all attendees and site managers for
actioning and review before the next meeting, any outstanding actions will be discussed in the next
meeting. Site sub-contractors who are tasked to close out actions mentioned on the minutes have a
maximum of 48hours to do so depending on the severity. In most cases, actions are closed out
immediately after the meeting. This has helped shaped the perspective of the entire workforce and
shows that the project team is concern about their general wellbeing and safety.

Also, ABC operates a suggestion scheme on site, there are suggestion boxes located at strategic
points on site for workers to fill out issues relating to site health, safety and welfare. The suggestion
boxes are meant to be accessed by the member of the project management team before the meeting

4
HSE, 2013:19

18
and comments discussed in the safety committee meetings. But this has not been effectively
managed as not all suggestion boxes are accessed in due time.

Presently, the project management team is striving to engage workers in health and safety
management system, but this needs to be improved as workers are not workplace safety inspections
and consulted when developing a safe system of works. Plans should be in place to involve workers
during workplace safety inspection and when developing safe system of works for task and not
assuming

Competence
Every employer is required to employ at one or more competent persons who will assist the employer
in undertaking to ensure the employer complies with the requirements imposed on him under the
relevant statutory provision (Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999). The
competence of persons is essential, be it managers, supervisors, or workers, this enables them to
recognise the risks associated with activities, apply appropriate control measures and manage the
risks

The health and safety is the appointed competent person to assist in ensuring health and safety
statutory requirement is appropriately implemented on ABC London project. Based on his five years
of experience in the construction industry as a health and safety manager, he is considered
knowledgeable with safe working practice in a construction environment and having achieved the
Technical IOSH level in Health and Safety. The health and safety manager advises the project
management team on health and safety-related issues and this is taken into consideration during the
senior management meetings and actioned in due time. However, giving the size of the project, the
safety practitioner should be CMIOSH level, lack of a safety practitioner with an appropriate level of
competence on a project of this nature could be an issue in ensuring effective health and safety
management system is implemented.

The competence of workers on the ABC London Project is vital for safe working. Workers are
expected to be employed based on skills and experience as per the organisation’s policy. All site
workers are to have the minimum entry requirement which is the Construction Skills Certification
Scheme (CSCS) before working on-site and a one-day health and safety course. The one-day health
and safety course is newly introduced by Construction Training Board (CITB) and ABC has enforced
this to the entire workforce. This course educates and creates awareness on health and safety issues
that are related to working in a construction site. To achieve the CSCS card workers will have to sit
for a multiple-choice touch screen test and achieve a pass mark of 75%. Apart from the CSCS card,
site personnel will hold a valid certification in their profession, these certifications must be from a
registered and recognised body approved by CITB. Contractor line managers and supervisors on site

19
are tasked with ensuring workers they put to work have the right certifications and skills and ensure
the health and safety of their workers. The sub-contractor line managers have the right experience
and skills to ensure this is appropriately implemented, the managers hold the Site Manager Safety
Training Scheme (SMSTS) certifications, while the supervisors hold the Site Supervisor Safety
Training Scheme (SSSTS) certifications. Before putting the plant and machine operators to work,
according to the organisation policy, the line managers are expected to test their competences by
carrying out on-site practical assessment and familiarisation training, the individuals will be asked to
operate the machine or plant and will be accessed. At the end of the assessment, the manager will
complete a competence form and submit to the health and safety manager. There is no evidence to
show that sub-contractors on site follow the organisation’s procedures to ensure the competence of
workers before putting them to work. However, there is no procedure in place to monitor, control and
ensure sub-contractor workers meet the competence and skill requirement as contractors just want
to fill vacant positions with available persons. This has exposed workers and site operatives to the
risk of working in an environment with less experience person. This can be related to one of the
incidents recorded on-site where the forklift driver crashed into a delivery lorry on site. Luckily, there
was no injuries sustained, during the incident investigation it was known that the forklift driver just got
his license three months ago and holds a CPSCS red card, even though the competence requirement
for a forklift driver is a minimum of two years' working experience and must hold a blue card. This
needs to be monitored and ensure control of workers competence is effectively implemented. It is
recommended that the health and safety manager organise a half-day workshop for all sub-contractor
line manager regarding the control of workers and effective procedure to monitor the competence
level of workers.

Furthermore, there have been some cases where the forklift operator fails to show up on-site due to
personal reasons, this led to the halt of some site activities regarding the unloading of a delivery lorry
because there was no arrangement in place to cover for an absent forklift driver. The project team is
reviewing process to ensure plant and machine operator absentees are adequately covered.

All workers attend the site induction on their first day on site. The induction is done in a designated
induction room with adequate sitting and writing arrangements and a projection screen. The site
induction is carried out by the health and safety manager and site questionaries’ are completed by
the workers at the end of the induction to prove they understand all that was said in the induction.
Workers are expected to achieve a 70% pass mark in the induction before given site access cards.
The induction lasts approximately an hour and a half and covers general site rules, site hazards and
safety measures, health and safety procedures, and arrangements. During the site induction, the site
project team roles and responsibilities are introduced to the workforce. After the induction, workers
will be briefed on their roles and responsibilities by their line manager using the Risk Assessment and
Method Statements (RAMS) for their specific task. Each profession on site has its unique RAMS

20
which was written by the sub-contractor health and safety advisor and has been reviewed and
approved by the ABC health and safety manager. The RAMS covers how to carry out each task
safely, materials to be used, procedures to be adopted, the risk involved and control measures.

Sub-contractors are required to complete a training matrix for their workers on site based on
organisation procedures. The training matrix should be reviewed and updated weekly by the sub-
contractor line manager and submitted to the health and safety manager for review. This helps
identifies training needs, track competence, skill level and ensure workers' certifications are up to date
whilst discharging their site duties. However, the training matrix has not been effective in tracking
workers competence and ensuring certifications are updated as line managers fail to update the
training matrix weekly.

Management
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires an organisation to set up
arrangements to manage health and safety risks. Management of health and safety should be
implemented by referencing to HSG65, which requires an organisation to develop a systematic
approach in managing health and safety.

ABC has a health and safety policy document that specifies management arrangements and
positions. This starts with the project director who oversees the running of this project to the least
operative on site. Roles and responsibilities of every individual which includes the sub-contractors
and their workers are highlighted in the health and safety policy document. Arrangements and
responsibilities of individuals tasked with the management of health and safety are detailed and clear
in the policy documents, these include the sub-contractors and their senior management. This
document is made available to all contracting company during the project tender period to ensure the
sub-contractors and their workers are aware of their roles and responsibilities for effective
management of health and safety whilst on site.

At the moment, the health and safety responsibilities of key individuals reflect on their job descriptions,
policy and performance standard are set to enable these individuals to achieve the required health
and safety standard of the organisation. Managers and sub-contractors’ line managers have
ownership of the health and safety of workers they manage and put to work. But there is no procedure
in place to monitor the performance of managers and sub-contractor, as the rule of thumb for the
managers is just get the job done not minding the safety implications. The health and safety culture
of the managers needs to be monitored and improved. The Health and safety manager is available
to provide advice in areas where the managers might experience difficulties in resolving safety issues.

The health and safety manager produce incident and accident report quarterly, this indicates, accident
incidence occurrence rate, accident trends, trends analyst and areas where the organisation is lacking

21
in safety compliance. This report is communicated to the top project management and ABC’s regional
health and safety manager. In areas where managers are struggling in discharging their assigned
roles and responsibilities, the health and safety manager will provide advice and assistant which will
possibly reduce the rate of accident incidence rates. The project health and safety manager sources
for advice from ABC regional health and safety manager when needed.

Site access is controlled with adequate fences, manned security and controlled access gates with the
use of turnstile. Members of the public are prohibited on site, only those who have businesses and
working on-site are allowed access to the site. Site sub-contractors employ the services of their
individual workers to perform various site duties, most of these workers are self-employed and are
subcontracted when needed for the duration of the project or task which they tend to do on site.

The organisation adopts a monthly health and safety performance scoring system. All sub-contractors
are assessed and scored based on their health and safety performance on various site activities
carryout by their workers. The performance scoring is made available on the site notice board and
communicated to each sub-contractor’s health and safety manager. Review of this performance is
done during the monthly health and safety meeting with each contractor’s safety manager in
attendance. Sub-contractors who score below the average are required to set out an action plan to
improve their site health and safety activities and scoring before the next performance scoring, failure
to achieve this will require attention from the sub-contractor’s senior management team.

Compliance
The level of understanding and compliance with relevant regulations indicates the level of safety in
the organisation (Gressgård, 2014). An organisation needs to recognise that compliance with the
legal requirement helps to deliver the desired outcome.

ABC Group is aware of the legal requirements regarding its undertaken as a construction company
which made them adopt and implement the ISO OHASAS18001 throughout its projects. ISO OHSAS
18001:2015 has an international recognition that has helped organisations manage occupational
health and safety (OH&S), reduce risk, protects organisation reputation and ensure a safe working
environment. The organisation is looking at moving into ISO 45001 within the next nine months, this
indicates that the organisation is aware of the changes in the industry. The regional health and safety
manager for ABC Group ensures the organisation’s activities comply with the legal requirements and
all other required legislation. The organisation regional health and safety manager visits the
organisation projects to ensure site activities comply with the relevant legal requirement.

The organisation health and safety management system is based on the HSG65 model, which sets
out the requirement for effective health and safety. The project health and safety manager ensures

22
that all activities and sub-contractors adopt and implement the HSG65 model. To ensure this is
properly implemented, the organisation conduct a yearly audit on all its project and the results of the
audit will help improve areas where needed.

The organisation liaises with the local authorities before commencing any projects within its locality
to ensure all undertakings are compliance with the local legislation requirement. The local authorities
impose requirements to the organisation during the period of construction and this is managed by the
construction manager to ensure project undertakings comply with the requirements.

The organisation insurance company has imposed some obligations on the organisation for the
management of health and safety risk during this project. These obligations enable the organisation
to conduct its undertakings to ensure the safety of all workers and anyone who might be at risk as a
result of its project activities. Copy of the outcomes from the yearly audit and incident report is given
to the insurance company for record purpose and referral. This also helps the insurance company to
monitor the project activities, ensure they are in line with the requirements and provide advice where
necessary.

Evaluation of Improvements Required

Base on the analysis and critical review of the present health and safety management system, the
following are the top three-priorities area where improvement is needed;

I. Health and Safety Risk: Mental health illness Management

23
 II. Competences: Control and monitor of workers competences.

III. Leadership: Improved visibility of health and safety leadership from senior management.

Mental health illness Management

One of the key health and safety risks detected from investigation is the risk of mental health illness
of workers. As the working culture is not favourable and could increase the risk of mental health
illness, it was observed that the organisation does not have adequate resources and procedures in
place to protect workers from mental health illness. With the long working hours, demanding
workloads, unfeasible deadlines, the blame and bully culture by the site managers, all these expose
workers to the possible risk to mental health illness. When workers are exposed in this type of working
environment there is a risk of an increase in accidents as a result of mental health illness, workers
will not be able to function to their capabilities. If this is not effectively managed, this can get worse
and uncontrollable with awful consequences.

The degree of the risk is huge, and it will require action from all levels of the organisation senior
management and the project team. The organisation senior management team must recognise that
workers are exposed to mental illness risk as a result of the working culture and must commit to
making a difference. A policy should be made on stern concern on managers' attitudes towards
workers on site. Managers should be informed on consequences if found disregarding the policy, this
will be monitored by the health and safety manager. The safety manager should be tasked with
investigating reports on managers' bully culture as this has been highlighted during an investigation.
The site management team together with the individual line managers should design favourable
working conditions by adequate planning of work activities, refrain from the blame, bully culture of
workers and feasible deadlines should be set. There should be limited working hours, workers should
not be allowed to work excessively long hours that may trigger fatigue, the project team should ensure
that workers do not work out of the site normal working hours. The project management team is
advised to organise a half-day quarterly mental health seminar to the entire workforce and toolbox
talks given every month. This seminar will be done quarterly as there is a high rate of workers turnover
on site, the seminar will be delivered by an external recognised organisation. Workers will attend this
seminar in groups so it will not affect the daily site activities. This seminar will cover every area of
mental health illness, which includes mental illness causes, how to spot symptoms and who to speak
to. The organisation should team up with “Lighthouse construction industry mental health support”
which provides 24/7 mental health helpline and advice. This will provide professional help and advice
to workers even during out of working hours. The Health and Safety Manager should be enrolled and
trained as a Mental Health First Aider. After completion of the course, the health and safety manager
will be a point of contact and provide support for workers who are experiencing mental health issue

24
or emotional distress and he will also be responsible for organising the mental illness awareness
campaign. His contact details and how to contact him will be placed around the site notice boards
and covered in the site induction.

The above improvements will add to the running cost of the project and will require 3-4 months’ time
frame for execution. However, the cost of implementing these improvements is reasonably practicable
compared to the consequences, as mental health illness could lead to an increase in incident and
accident rates, self-harm and possibly suicide. The health and safety manager will communicate the
cost of implementing these improvements to the commercial manager who is the project budget
holder. Positive outcomes from implementing these improvements will be visible in workers attitude,
an increase in morale which will drive an increase in productivity and reduction in accident rates and
enforcement actions from the authority.

Implement a procedure that controls and monitors workers competence

In the last quarter, some incidents which had occurred indicates that the organisation needs to
improve in ensuring competent workers are employed by subcontractors. Luckily, this incident has
not resulted in a fatality, nevertheless, this could be a matter of time before such an incident occurs.

There is a procedure in place for employing competent workers on site, but this has not been
effectively implemented by the sub-contractors. This could be because the contractors just want to
get the job done and employ any available individual with minimum skills. The project team sets out
qualification requirements for employing workers on site, this is communicated to the subcontractor
management to ensure their workers match the competence level before employing them to
discharge duties on-site, but this has not been controlled and monitored by the organisation project
team.

The project team should implement a procedure that will assist in the control and monitoring of
workers competence to ensure that competent workers are put to work. Monitoring of subcontractor’s
workers' competence should be done by the health and safety manager on the first day the individual
arrives on site. All certifications and competence cards should be checked and confirmed before
allowing the individual to sit for the induction.

This can be done during the induction process, workers competence should be verified by completing
a questionnaire, on the job assessment and verification of certifications. The organisation should
develop a worker selection questionnaire which will be given to workers by their line managers before
attending site induction. This questionnaire will be completed and sent with copies of their
certifications 48 hours before attending the site. Based on the review of these documents, the health
and safety manager will decide if the individual meets the competence criteria before attending site
induction. Also, workers handling tools, equipment, operating plants and machine will be required to

25
prove their competency level through workplace assessment when they arrive on site. They will be
taken to their respective work area, given the equipment or tools and assessed by the health and
safety manager who will complete the competency assessment form. The outcome of the assessment
will decide if the individual will be employed on site. Result of this assessment, the questionnaire
completed, and certifications will be documented and stored electronically in the organisation software
and monitored by the health and safety manager. This will assist in effectively monitoring the
competence of the workers on-site and reduce accident risk.

Training for organisation site/line managers is recommended. Site managers and sub-contractor line
manager should attend a half-day workshop training on “Workers control and monitoring of
competence”, this course will be delivered by the health and safety manager. The training will cover
the organisation policy and procedures in ensuring competent workers are employed, how to monitor
and assess workers competence in their respective job roles, and effectively update the training matrix
based on the organisation policy. At the end of this workshop, managers and contractor line managers
will be able to assist the health and safety manager regarding control of contractors and effective
implement procedure to monitor the competence level of workers employed by the subcontractors.

These recommended improvements should be implemented within the next three months to advert
any adverse incident occurring. These improvements will attract operational and managerial cost to
the project. As managers will take half-day off their busy schedule, nevertheless, the cost is mere
fraction compared to the consequences that may arise if these improvements are not speedily
implemented. This is just a matter of time for a severe incident to occur with the slightest blink of an
eye, if these improvements is not implemented. Outcomes from these recommended improvements
will be measured through the quarterly accident and incident statistics report.

Improved visibility of health and safety leadership from the senior management

The organisation senior management is aware of the importance of effective health and safety
management, it's business benefits and therefore has signed the health and safety policy and
allocated resources for health and safety management. The health and safety culture needs
improving, the attitude of managers and the general workforce. This can only be achieved if the senior
management show visible commitment, all hands need to be on deck to improve the health and safety
culture.

If the senior management engages fully in the project health and safety management and leading by
example, this will increase workers' confidence, drive positive health and safety culture, reduce
incident and accident rates, increase productivity, reduce the possibility of enforcement action,
improve business continuity and customers satisfaction.

26
Visible changes in the organisation health and safety culture will require time and resources. The
initial step will be to enrol the organisation senior management and project senior management team
on health and safety training course. The recommended training is the IOSH leading safely course,
this is four hours in-house training course that will be delivered by an external training institution. The
training will be structured to cover the organisation needs, existing health and safety policies and
equip the senior management in understanding their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding
workers and businesses whilst adopting effective health and management systems. This training will
incur some cost to the organisation, which is reasonably practicable compared to the insured and
uninsured cost that may arise as a result of an accident.

After completion of the IOSH training, the project senior managers will be required to carry out safety
tours, workplace, and safety inspections. The first series of safety tours and inspections by members
of the project senior management team will be done with the health and safety manager to assist in
directing and explaining site safety areas that need to be covered in the course of the tours. The
safety tours and inspection will be spread over one week after the training, the senior managers will
carry out the tours with the safety manager. After which the senior managers can carry out safety
tours and inspections on their own, findings will be discussed in the project senior management
meetings. The senior management team should make out time to always attend the safety meetings,
this can be done by rotating the attendance between the members of the senior management team.
This will allow hearing from the workforce on health and safety issues as sub-contractor line
managers, site managers, and workers representative will be in attendance. This will serve as an
opportunity for the workforce to interact with a member of the project senior management team in
health and safety matters.

Also, the project senior management should kick start the “Working Safely” campaign. This campaign
will educate the workforce on safety standards and how to adopt safe working procedures. This will
address unsafe acts and actions that need to be avoided and eliminated in the workplace. After the
completion of this campaign, the site general health and safety performance will be measured using
the near-miss, incidents and accident statistics. This will show if there have been any improvements
in site health and safety culture, the performance measurement will be done after three months of the
safety campaign and project senior managers undertaking safety tours and safety attending meetings.
The outcome of performance measures will determine where improvement is needed, this will be
monitored by the health and safety manager to ensure its effectiveness.

Conclusions and Recommendations

27
This report has evaluated the effectiveness of the existing arrangement for managing the Health and
Safety on ABC London Project and to recommend action plans that will improve the organisation
health and safety performance. The evaluation led to some findings which are;

➢ There is a health and safety management system in place in accordance with the HSG65 with
some improvements to be made in ensuring it is adequately implemented regarding the control
of workers competences, health and safety risks and senior leadership involvement.

➢ The senior management team is aware of the health and safety requirements, hence the
health and safety policy was created and signed, although there are shortcomings in
leadership showing visible commitments.

➢ Arrangement is in place for ensuring competent individuals are put to work, but this is not
adequately monitored to ensure its effectiveness.

➢ The project management team is aware of the Health and safety risks associated with site
activities and have design measures to manage them, except for mental health illness which
need to be adequately addressed and managed.

➢ Health and safety issues are merely left for the health and safety manager to handle and the
senior management team are only concerned with allocating resources.

➢ The senior project management team are swift to implement reactive action in the event of
accidents and pay less attention to proactive accident preventive action.

➢ Concerns raised by workers regarding site safety culture are treated lightly and, on some
occasions, ignored.

From the above findings, three areas where immediate improvement actions are needed are; Health
and safety risks associated with mental health illness, lack of control of workers competences, and
lack of visible leadership commitments.

Health and safety risks associated with work activities are reasonably managed with an exception to
mental health illness which requires urgent improvement. Concerns for possible mental health illness
due to the unfavourable working conditions, site managers attitude and bully culture needs to be
effectively managed. The project management team is yet to get a grip on actions and a working
culture that can trigger mental health illness. It is therefore recommended that the health and safety
manager should be trained as a mental health first aider, this training will provide knowledge on what
can trigger mental health illness. After completion of this training, the safety manager will organise
mental health awareness campaign. It is also recommended that the senior project management team

28
liaise with an external organisation in providing mental health awareness training and 24/7 support to
the workforce. Site managers should be informed and enrolled in a mental health workshop, this will
provide an insight on actions that can trigger mental health illness and ensure managers adopt a
positive attitude and culture towards workers. A review of the working hours and conditions to ensure
workers do not work longer hours or exposed to conditions that may trigger mental health illness is
recommended. Reports made my workers concerning managers blame and bully culture should be
taken more seriously and actioned by the senior project management team. Work activities should be
appropriately planned and feasible deadlines for work completion should be set.

Weakness concerning control and monitoring of workers competence has been identified and
requires immediate attention. There is a high risk of a serious accident occurring and if this occurs, it
will affect productivity, workers morale and incur some cost to the organisation on enforcement
actions, accident investigation, increase in insurance premiums and so on. It is recommended that
each sub-contractor line managers and ABC site managers are informed and trained on how to
monitor their workers' competencies. This training will be delivered by the health and safety manager
and will cover all areas on the company's procedures on control and monitor of workers competences.
The health and safety manager to review the training matrix and ensure sub-contractor line managers
update the training matrix frequently. Given the size of the project and actions that need the input of
the health and safety practitioner, it is recommended that a health and safety advisor is employed to
assist the health and safety manager, and the present health and safety manager should work
towards achieving the CMIOSH level.

The project senior management has shown interest in health and safety management on the ABC
London project and has developed the health and safety policy which requires adequate health and
safety system to be implemented. Nevertheless, this has experienced some lapses as the health and
safety management system is not fully effective as it should be. It is recommended that the senior
management show visible commitments in health and safety matters by getting more involved with
the site activities through site inspection, safety meetings, and routine safety inspection/tours. A
further recommendation is that the senior project management team should enrol for IOSH health
and safety training, this training will provide in-depth information on how the senior management team
can be visibly involved in implementing health and safety management system, roles and
responsibilities on how to improve site health and safety culture.

29
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