Senior Figures in West Midlands Construction Come Together For Health and Safety Event

29 June, 2010

Following 230 construction-related serious injuries in the West Midlands last year, construction companies from around the West Midlands came together for an innovative event designed to encourage safety on site.

Affordable housing contractor Wates Living Space brought together nine senior figures from seven construction companies around the region for a health and safety event at two of its sites in Turves Green and Ingoldsby in the West Midlands.

The event saw Wates Living Space take senior industry figures, like Kevin Ward from SES, to visit the two construction sites to explain how they should encourage staff to look for potential hazards, with the aim of improving best practice in Wates’ supply chain.

Tom Langley Business Director for Wates Living Space said: “There were 53 major injuries related to construction sites in Birmingham alone last year, and 230 across the West Midlands.

“Wates is refurbishing around 20.000 homes in the West Midlands this year, which means that we have to make sure our sites are safe, not just for our staff but for members of the public too, so health and safety is a subject very close to our hearts.

“We decided to hold the health and safety event to encourage our suppliers and colleagues within the construction industry to be more proactive about health and safety and to look for how accidents might happen, rather than dealing with accidents once they have actually happened.

“We believe that if we can encourage a more proactive approach to health and safety among senior figures at the top of the industry, then this will cascade its way down through an organization, and the rest of the industry.”

To download this press release as a pdf click here

Categories: refurbishment, affordable housing, health and safety, events, midlands

Tags: Ingoldsby, Turves Green