The Bank Building was a hive of activity this weekend,  when more than 40 of our site workforce and key supply-chain contractors attended our latest health and safety seminar.

Each year, we hold an annual review of our site safety performance and inform our team of any new legislation or developments which need to be adhered to in order to run our projects safely.   This year’s seminar was held by Anthony Tetlow, MD of Safety Smart, one of Manchester’s leading health and safety consultancies.  Anthony is employed by Opus4 to regulate our Health & Safety policy, to carry out regular spot-check inspections and audits, to assess the performance of our sub-contract teams and to advise us on changes in legislation.

An inspection of personal protective equipment (PPE) was carried out and replenished as necessary, and Opus4 Operations Director, David Murphy gave a  full demonstration of our new site pod set ups.  For larger, notifiable projects,  this site pod consists of a 1600mm table for the purposes of signing in, site induction documentation (A3 presentation folder), first aid box and eye wash station, and the construction phase health and safety plan.  At the rear of this there is our Opus Branded Site Safety Notice board, informing all workers and visitors of their duties in terms of PPE and procedures when attending site.   We have our site H&S documentation board; this displays the Health and Safety Law poster, F10 document, company H&S Policy, site specific rules, Insurance Certificates, and directions to nearest hospital. To the right of this we have our 3 drawer metal filing cabinet, the purpose of this is to ensure all our site paperwork is kept in order. It contains our drawings, copies of sub-contract works package information, delivery notes, and spare PPE. Finally we have our Mobile fire point. This contains water, foam and powder together with a Fire bell to be rung in the event of fire.

The seminar demonstrates Opus4’s commitment to health and safety and ensures it remains an integral part of our company culture.  Anthony Tetlow commented:  “I see far too many companies, particularly in a higher risk business sector like construction, fail to take health and safety seriously.  It’s great to work with a progressive company like Opus4, who are prepared to go above and beyond their basic legal obligations and make health and safety a cornerstone of their business ethics”.