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Commercial or residential corporate tower building construction site with different heavy machinery. Concrete cement mixer truck and many crane. Industrial workplace background.

Managing Risk Well

Managing Risk Well looks to share examples of good safety practice and business success, linked to proportionate risk management, and supported by targeted, relevant advice and information. We also look to increase understanding of what ‘good’ safety management looks like for CDM 2015 duty holders.

Group name: Managing Risk Well

Governance

MRW comprises a range of professionals from different disciplines, and from across construction and maintenance, who are committed to working together to help businesses manage and improve safety through the application of proportionate risk measures to tackle both significant and emerging risks.

Notable MRW members include:

  • Paul Reeve, ECA Director of CSR, Chair
  • Tony Seddon, MD FASET, Deputy Chair
  • Gary Walpole, Technical SHE Officer NFRC, Chair Construction Fire Sub-Group

Scope

MRW WG majors on significant and emerging safety risks in construction and maintenance. Its main audience is micro and SME businesses.

Sensible and proportionate risk management is integral to delivering business success. Proportionate risk management supports growth, enables innovation, and protects an organisation’s assets, and notably its most vital asset, its people.

Positive safety outcomes can include increased productivity, reduced absence, lower operational costs, and improved reputation. Senior management, employees, their representatives and health and safety professionals all have a vitally important role to play. Effective help with managing risks, notably for smaller businesses, helps to build trust and improve standards across our industry.

MRW Themes

Safe work at height

Work at height (WAH) is still a salient workplace hazard across construction and maintenance. To help stakeholders engage with effective WAH risk management, MRW’s WAH sub-group produced ‘Safety Steps’. Safety Steps provides essential messages that can be readily referred to by those who wish to produce their own useful outputs for various target audiences (ranging from designers and clients to managers, supervisors and operatives). Outputs that draw on Safety Steps may include (and are not restricted to):

  • Infographics
  • Training materials
  • Checklists
  • Poster campaigns
  • Rules and guidelines.

All Safety Steps outputs are free to adapt for any purpose designed to help improved safety when working at height. Any significant use should acknowledge CONIAC as the source, with a CONIAC website link, and please note that any material changes to the messages in Safety Steps are not authorised by CONIAC.

Construction Fire Safety

MRW WG has an active sub-group focussed on fire safety during building design, pre-construction and construction. Construction Fire Safety sub-group members come from a diverse range of industry stakeholders, sharing their motivation to support and develop the construction and associated industries in the drive to ensuring fire safety, with particular emphasis on fire prevention. Its outputs can be reviewed on this page.

Alternatives to site diesel

MRW Group has been asked by the CLC to produce several concise notes on “Safety and alternatives to diesel onsite: things to consider”. These notes do not aim to provide definitive guidance but they outline many of the safety considerations when looking to replace the diesel energy onsite with other sources of energy and which in some cases may present an emerging risk onsite.

Visual Standards – what ‘good’ looks like onsite

This section presents a range of contributed examples of good site practice, based on photographs and other visual standards. These illustrate what ‘good looks like’ on site, for various high onsite hazards.

Site Transport Safety

e.g. Shepherd Visual Standards document.

Current Projects

  • Onsite/near site transport site safety and other site hazards - sharing good practice
  • Safety of Alternatives to using onsite Diesel - highlighting key safety considerations
  • Construction fire safety – working to increase awareness and the management of fire safety risks during the construction phase

Draft documents which are intended for public viewing and/or comments, are available via the DIOHAS website. Please click here to access.

Resources

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Image Gallery

Plant machinery

CAW worker holding an iPad

Construction worker in safety gloves filling excavator with diesel fuel on construction site

Construction workers watching a construction route

High reach work platforms extended upwards

Contact

Sophie Mason, MRW Secretariat

Email: sophie.mason@eca.co.uk

Paul Reeve CFIOSH FRSC FIEMA, Chair

Email: paul.reeve@eca.co.uk

Tony Seddon FASNET, Deputy Chair

Gary Walpole NFRC, Chair Construction Fire Sub-Group