Health And Safety – Homeowners

Having home improvements to your home is an exciting time. The extra space an extension brings and the luxury of a new kitchen is bound to make you and your family’s life a lot easier. Unfortunately this process can be very stressful because of the many pitfalls that you could encounter. One such pitfall is definitely the health and safety aspects of your work.

Before work commences on your property the garden has always been your children’s play area. Once work commences this is now not the children’s play area but a dangerous building site. All children see however is scaffolding to play with and swing off and large holes i.e. the foundations appearing in there garden. Its almost like Christmas has come early and Mum and Dad has turned their garden into an adventure playground. This is not obviously the case and not only do the children need to be made aware that this is a no go zone, you the parents need to also be made aware of what potential dangers could lie ahead. Common sense must always prevail and you need to hold a meeting with your builder and discuss what lies ahead and how working together you may be able to prevent accidents during the contract period. Simple things like using your back door entrance if your builders have scaffolded the front of your property and may be working on the scaffolding above. By using the rear door you straight away eliminate any undue risk and can enter your property with no risk to you and your family.

Bricks and Pieces work with Safety Smart Risk Management Consultants and they are always available to give advise and guidance if you feel unsure of any aspects in connection with Health and Safety.

More importantly any area of concern during the works. If you would like to contact Safety Smart there contact details are;

Safety Smart Risk Management Consultants
Office No: 0800 0025 632
Mobile: 07507-862984
Web: www.safety-smart.co.uk

Anthony Tetlow is Managing Director of Safety Smart, Bricks and Pieces approved Risk Management Consultants and creator of the world’s first industry specific Health and Safety Apps for the iPhone/iTouch/iPad.

If you need any advice on any of the items highlighted in this section please feel free to contact Bricks and Pieces and we will be happy to discuss any items that may be causing you any concern.

Smart Safety are here to ensure that your home improvements are a pleasurable and safe experience for all involved and they look forward to answering any of your questions.

Being made aware of Insurance and Health and Safety matters is as important to Bricks and Pieces as it is to you and your builder. Working together we can raise awareness and prevent unnecessary stress and/or even injury.

Please view the section headed Builders Responsibilities as the more information we make available for you to read the more your awareness is increased. You will also be surprised at the level of actual accidents on domestic and residential sites that was reported in the 2008/2009 national statistics. 22% of fatal accidents over the last 10 years have occurred on domestic build projects. We have also provided links to articles that have recently been published and again hopefully will highlight and make you more aware of problems and accidents that can arise on domestic building sites.

PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN THE CURE.

You may find the following links of interest and are actual articles

Victim Strayed to Unsecured Site during night out

http://www.shponline.co.uk/incourt-content/full/victim-strayed-on-to-unsecured-site-during-night-out

Unsupported pit puts residents lives at risk

http://www.shponline.co.uk/incourt-content/full/unsupported-pit-put-residents-lives-at-risk ~

Safety inspectors launch building site crackdown

http://tinyurl.com/33hmfsp