Health and Safety

Two new guidance documents have recently been published by the Health & Safety Committee; SG39 and SG40.

SG40:20 Scaffolding Yard Operations is intended to be used by those who have management, supervisory or other health, safety and environmental management responsibilities, to help reduce yard-based serious incidents (fire), injuries, cases of occupational ill health or harm to the environment.

SG39:21 Guidance on Appointing a Scaffold Contractor provides an overview of the free publication A Guide to Appointing a Scaffolding Contractor, previously called the Scaffold Specification Template.

The guide will assist clients in appointing a compliant trained scaffolding contractor with appropriately trained scaffolding operatives to undertake all access and scaffolding works.

A Guide to Appointing a Scaffolding provides advice and instruction for all organisations (or individuals) who are responsible for appointing, monitoring or managing scaffolding contractors.

It sets out what organisations (clients / principal contractor etc) should be asking for from a scaffolding contractor when procuring their services.

It is for the organisations to evidence how they have assessed the contractor’s organisational capability for the job to carry out the work safely as per The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015). These resources are all available for free download via the NASC website.

The NASC Health and Safety Committee continues to reach out to other industry trade bodies and organisations, to build a working relationship and share knowledge and good practices.

We continue to work with the National Federation of Demolition Contractors (NFDC) and have helped with the development of the NFDC Scaffolding video that addresses the need for better understanding of scaffolding in the demolition sector.

However, there has been a delay in assisting the NFDC in reviewing their Guidance for Scaffolding in Demolition, this is mainly due to the pandemic.

The National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) is leading on the Wellbeing in Construction project involving NASC and a number of other organisations including the Samaritans, CITB and Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity.

Funding to develop a Wellbeing in Construction app has been approved and is now on hold due to the pandemic. Further details to follow in due course.