Health and safety policy

Statement of intent

This is our written health and safety policy, as the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires. It sets out what we intend, who is responsible for what, and the arrangements we follow on every job.

The health and safety of our people, our clients, residents and the public comes first. We will:

• meet the law that applies to our work, including the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• assess the risks of our work and control them
• give our people the information, training, equipment and supervision they need to work safely
• consult the people doing the work, and act on what they tell us

Responsibilities

• The directors have overall responsibility, and make sure this policy is followed and has the resources it needs.
• Site managers and supervisors run their sites safely day to day, check the work and stop anything unsafe.
• Everyone on our sites must take reasonable care of themselves and others, follow the site rules, use the protective equipment provided, and report hazards, accidents and near misses.
• Specialist trades follow our site rules and give us risk assessments and method statements for their work before they start.

Our role as principal contractor

We act as principal contractor under CDM 2015, the regulations on how construction work is planned, managed and monitored. In that role we:

• prepare a construction phase plan before work starts
• coordinate the trades on site, so that everyone works to one safe system
• provide welfare facilities and keep the site secure
• keep residents, visitors and the public safely separated from the work
• share information about risks with the client and the principal designer

Arrangements on every job

• Risk assessments and method statements are prepared before work starts, explained to the people doing the work and updated when things change.
• Everyone is inducted before starting on site, and regular toolbox talks cover the risks of the work in hand.
• Before disturbing the fabric of a building, we check its asbestos information. If suspected asbestos is found, work in that area stops until it has been checked.
• Scaffolds, ladders and other access equipment are checked before use and inspected as the law requires.
• Every site has first-aid and emergency arrangements, explained at induction.

Training and competence

Everyone on our team holds the CSCS card for their role, and our site managers and supervisors are SMSTS trained. Our teams are trained in asbestos awareness, first aid at work, working at height, manual handling and scaffold inspection, as their roles require, with further training specific to each trade. We check that specialists are competent for their work before they start.

Checking and improving

An external health and safety consultancy audits our policies, practices and sites, alongside our own internal audits and site inspections. We act on what they find, and on feedback from the people doing the work.

Accidents and concerns

Report every accident, near miss and unsafe condition to your site manager straight away. We record them, look into what happened and act on what we learn. Where RIDDOR 2013 requires it, we report injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences to the Health and Safety Executive.

Anyone can stop a task they believe is unsafe, and no one will be treated unfairly for raising a safety concern. If a concern is not dealt with, raise it under our whistleblowing policy.

Review

The directors of AGL Construction Services Ltd own this policy and share it with everyone who works for us. They review it every year, and sooner after a serious incident or a significant change in the law or our work.