New health and safety CPD from the RIBA

Citation

(2001), "New health and safety CPD from the RIBA", Facilities, Vol. 19 No. 11/12. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2001.06919kab.013

New health and safety CPD from the RIBA

New health and safety CPD from the RIBAKeywords: Architects, Construction industry, Health and safety

The recent high profile Construction Safety Summit, called by the Health and Safety Commission and the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, has been well received by the industry. General secretary of construction union UCATT, George Brumwell, pretty much summed things up when he said:

We fully support the initiatives of the government. It is quite clear that, following Egan and the summit, the government means business. There is no doubt about it, the construction industry's attitude towards the workforce has to be brought fairly and squarely into the twenty-first century.

There is certainly room for improving the management of health and safety risks. In the year 2000 alone 80 people were killed on building sites (mainly through falls, objects falling from above and being hit by vehicles); there were 400 health and safety prosecutions in the construction industry, and almost half of the 4,000 or so notices, served by the Health and Safety Executive to prevent dangerous practices, were in construction. Broadly, there are three essentials for more effective health and safety compliance – safe people, safe places, and safe systems. Tim Gough, VP Practice RIBA and the man responsible for health and safety issues, has his own views on the subject:

The construction industry must address the issues relating to the traditional lack of overall management and awareness of risks in general. Our members are in a good position to think strategically about these issues and take a lead wherever possible in helping to change the attitude and culture that prevails in the industry. One key to this is to try and encourage cooperation and collaboration at all levels, in a properly managed environment. If architects are to make a contribution to this thinking, then of course they need the training to be able to implement it. Architectural students are now being taught to "think safety" and the RIBA CPD Providers Network, which exists to encourage the highest standards of professional conduct amongst architects and other construction professionals, has an increasing number of members already active in offering accredited CPD seminars on various topics relating to health and safety issues.

For those who may not be familiar with the CPD scheme, every corporate member of the RIBA is required to attain 35 hours and 100 points of CPD every year. Most commonly these sessions take the form of a Powerpoint presentation followed by an opportunity for discussion and questions. They are free and are usually held at the corporate members own premises.

Contact details of members of the RIBA Providers Network, who offer accessed material relating to health and safety issues, are summarised in Table I.

The RIBA CPD Providers Network provides quality assessed, in-house CPD for architects and other construction professionals.

Table I RIBA Providers Network

For detailed information and booking instructions on any of the above topics, contact the person listed. For information direct from the RIBA, or to submit material for assessment, contact Joni Tyler, Head of CPD. Tel: +44 (0)20 7307 3697; Fax: +44 (0)20 7255 1541; E-mail: joni.tyler@inst.riba.org