Health and Safety

The Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) has added women’s personal protective equipment (PPE) to its contractor checklist. Companies that opt in to the CCS code of considerate practice will now have to ensure that PPE is available on site in suitable sizes. Contractors signed up to the voluntary code are assessed…

A crane has collapsed at a former hospital site in west London. The London Fire Brigade was alerted at around 9.15am on Friday (12 January) that a tower crane’s jib had fallen down at the Central Middlesex Hospital development in Park Royal, causing minor damage to a building under construction.…

The safety watchdog will urgently look at large panel system (LPS) buildings as part of its new inspection regime, Construction News has learned. A Building Safety Regulator (BSR) spokesperson said it would prioritise assessments of LPS buildings built between 1957 and 1973 “which cannot confirm remediation work has been carried…

The National Access & Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) has expressed “significant concern” over scaffolds collapsing during storms and high winds. Winds of up to 90mph have battered the UK in the past week, with Storm Henk – the eighth storm of the 2023/24 winter period – appearing to cause the collapse…

More than 90 Network Rail workers have been dismissed for consuming alcohol or drugs in the past four financial years, Construction News can reveal. Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that 23 of the rail company’s staff were sacked after tests found alcohol in their system at…

A builder has died after a roof collapse at a house undergoing a conversion in Leytonstone, east London last week. The man, who has not yet been named, died on 12 December, while a colleague was injured at the building on Pevensey Road. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said officers were…

Leicester City’s stadium expansion plans have won formal planning approval – on condition that counter-terrorism measures are incorporated into the construction phase. The football club secured initial approval for 8,000 extra seats in the East Stand of its King Power Stadium, as well as other facilities including a hotel, commercial…

A council has been fined £2m after the death of a worker during a road resurfacing job. Stephen Bell, 57, was barrowing tarmac from the back of a Newport City Council tipper lorry when he was struck by a farm vehicle passing the roadworks. According to a statement from the…

The government has named three companies given contracts worth a total of £35m to provide temporary classrooms at schools affected by the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). Algeco UK, Portakabin and Wernick Buildings have been awarded contracts worth £11.55m each by the Department for Education (DfE). The £35m cost…

A Balfour Beatty roadworker in Southampton was attacked with a baseball bat by a driver trying to get through a road closure, it has emerged. The incident was highlighted by the firm and Southampton City Council as part of an attempt to stamp out abuse of roadworkers. A survey by…