final-report-of-the-advisory-committee-on-falsework-bragg-report - Flipbook - Page 89
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Implementation of Recommendations
In our interim report, now incorporated in this
report, we made a number of specific recommendations, as well as some more generalised suggestions
on which the industry was invited to comment. In
submitting the recommendations to Ministers, the
then Minister of Housing and Construction Industries,
Mr Reg Freeson, "welcomed the recommendations
of the Advisory Committee which could greatly reduce
the risk of falsework failures in the construction
industry". Mr Freeson said, in a parliamentary reply,
that "the recommendations fall mainly to be implemented by the industry and I am accordingly writing
to them (i.e. 'the industry) strongly commending the
adoption of the recommendations by their members
as setting a standard of good practice which they
should follow. My Department is taking all steps
open to it to ensure that the recommendations are
adopted by contractors employed on its own projects".
It is also understood that the Department of the
Environment, in its capacity as the Department
responsible for liaison with local authorities, recommended by circular letter that local authorities should
follow the procedures as far as its own contracts were
concerned.
More bridges are commissioned by the Government
through the Department of the Environment than
by any other client in England and Wales.
The standards which they require and the procedures
adopted by the Department of the Environment
through its regional organisations in the Highways
Division have a significant effect upon the safety
performance of most contractors. In particular, the
requirement of the Department's Road Construction
Units that the contractor submit falsework drawings
to the engineer as a matter of course is one which we
have recommended should be universally adopted. It
is clear to the committee that it is most important
to enlist the expertise of the engineers responsible
for the permanent work in order to provide checks
which could reduce the number of undetected errors
and thereby the number of potential failures. It is
better to prevent collapses occurring than to argue
about who would be responsible for an accident if it
occurred.
Industry was further encouraged to implement our
recommendations when they were accepted by the
Department of the Environment which includes the
Property Services Agency. General conditions of contract which require contractors engaged on govem90
ment work to comply with the recommendations help to
establish the recommended procedures, which may
then be adopted by contractors for other work.
Through its Department of Housing and Construction
Industries, the Department of the Environment also
advises and regulates the construction work undertaken by local authorities. This is an important
function as it directly affects the private sector of the
building industry.
Thus the government have taken measures through
the appropriate Departments of State to implement
the recommendations of the interim report in relation
to its· own contracts. We hope that similar action will
be taken over the further recommendations of the
final report. No opportunity should be lost to stimulate
local authorities and the private sector of industry to
follow suit so that good practice becomes established
throughout that sector of the construction industry
where, as this report shows, the need for improvement
is particularly needed. We consider that government
policy and finance will also have a major role to play
in the development and expansion of grant-aided
training schemes on the lines which we suggest.
Similar schemes may commend themselves to other
sectors of the construction industry where technical
training, with an inbuilt emphasis on safety, is no less
urgently required.
Statutory enforcement
We have also considered the extent to which safety
is affected by the laws of the land. We do not believe
that additional legislation is required.
The objective of the 1974 Act is to secure the health,
safety and welfare of persons at work and to protect
others against the risks to health or safety which
might result from the activities of persons at work.
The scope of protection is thus extended to members
of the public and to the self-employed. This is a welcome reform which removes earlier anomalies. It is
also the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as
is reasonably practicable, the health and safety and
welfare at work of all employees. This puts a general
obligation on the employer to control working conditions in addition to any specific obligations under
particular regulations. There are corresponding obligations upon both employed persons and the selfemployed at work. In addition the Act provides for
enforcement by the issue of improvement notices and
prohibition notices.
