Informal Interview
On the 27th October 2008 an informal interview took place with the regional director of a medium to large design consultancy from Ireland. The requirement of this meeting was to present the project title to someone involved in the industry to gauge response and discover if any research or thoughts were on the right track.
From this interview it was hoped some more thorough information on potential questionnaire format as well as general information on the topic would be found in conjunction with new areas of thought which could be investigated.
The interview was recorded on Dictaphone and the subsequent notes made on the proceedings were as follows:
Any questions regarding general business culture have to be very carefully constructed with a clear way of interpreting and analysing the results.
Bureaucracy can be a major problem with many health and safety issues requiring lots of “red tape.”
Often in a design company, those involved with health and safety at any level tend to require more experience as opposed to their job expectation. It is something that can have a large impact on design and responsibility should an accident occur, so only those with the appropriate experience are allowed to deal with such issues.
In larger organisations gaining this experience can be more difficult as people can be pigeon-holed into more basic roles. Hence when they come to deal with it, they perhaps don’t understand fully the various expectations on designers in regards to H&S.
As designers begin to become more liable it can begin to lead to less innovative designs which are more H&S conscious. Increased focus on H&S can lead to discouraging ambitious projects.
This design consultancy in particular tends to work in a happy medium between the Approved Code of Practice and CDM 2007 regulations.
The CDM co-ordinator tends to be a “hot-potato” in regards to who wants to take on the role. Starting to see specialist companies coming in who have a sole role in CDM co-ordination on a project e.g. Hasco Europe Ltd
On bigger projects with stricter deadlines often corners can be cut in regards to H&S in order to keep the project on schedule.
Sub-contractors can contribute heavily to accidents on site. Often larger contractors are more thorough in relation to H&S as they cannot afford to lose down-time on a site as it will result in them going behind schedule. This is due to HSE investigations and paperwork required if an accident occurs.
Designers should perhaps be heavily scrutinised because presently in lots of cases they aren’t followed up when accidents occur on-site.
Suggested looking into a particular project in southern Ireland where an accident on site was followed back to a young design engineer. Also is an example of how complex cases can get and how many people who can become involved. Such a case put some fear into the design community.
Often it is just a case of reinforcing the simple issues which could improve the H&S issue. Also updating and reinventing ways to prevent health and safety issues is required as people tire of seeing the same video/presentation every time for inductions or CCS card updates etc.
Some people lower in the organisational hierarchy can be more reckless. Trying to instill the value of health and safety into this group could reduce accidents and fatalities the most.
Getting rid of the traditional, “get the project done as fast as possible, whatever way possible.”
Perhaps introducing firmer on-site enforcement of health and safety issues is required. Stronger leadership may be needed.
The inconsistency across the industry is a key issue – there are people who strive to have Health and Safety at the core of their company’s objective but there are also those who don’t pay much attention to it, or simply the bare minimum required by law.
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