Safety on Site with Health and Safety Manager, David Ternent
It has been 3 months since David joined us as our Group Health and Safety Manager, and in that time, he has been working hard across all sites, looking at how we can keep improving our standards and making sure we remain one of the safest construction companies in the East Midlands.
David’s previous experience comes from working on several huge infrastructure projects, including an £85M redevelopment for Royal Mail, so he really knows his stuff when it comes to site safety.
With Construction Safety Week and No Falls Week both coming up this month, we caught up with David to talk about why these awareness weeks are important and what we’ve been doing to constantly meet the highest safety standards on all our construction projects.
David Ternent
Q&A with David: Putting Safety First
This year’s theme for Construction Safety Week is ‘All in Together’. How do we encourage every person on site to feel they have the power to stop and speak out, if they see something unsafe?
“To enable all employees, contractors, site visitors, and the wider local communities in and around our construction sites to be able to notify myself of any concerns at any time of the day, we display posters on-site with a QR code. When scanned with a phone, this allows the individual to notify the H&S team of any concerns, such as a near miss or hazard on-site. There is also the option to notify us of any innovation observed, so Gusto Construction can share this across the group for the benefit of all on-site and the continuous improvement of H&S.”
Can you give an example of how our team recognises a hidden hazard on-site before it becomes an issue?
“As part of our off-site project planning Gusto Construction will review all information provided to us from the client, principal designer and other specialists to ensure that any potential hazard is identified before any boots step on to site. Hidden hazards come in many forms such as asbestos, contaminated land, buried tanks, lead paint on old window frames etc. Where this type of hidden hazard is identified it will be dealt with by a specialist contractor before works commence on site. In addition, all trades will receive a site-specific site induction before commencing work on site. In addition, all trades are provided with annual refresher training on a number of topics to ensure they have the necessary knowledge to identify hazards and take appropriate action before a hazard becomes an accident or incident.”
What is the one thing you wish everyone understood about why health and safety on site is one of the most important parts of building?
“Actions have consequences, sometimes life changing consequences. The simple fact that one wrong choice to just do something quickly before leaving site or when something has been missed, one of those “it will only take a minute jobs” has left many constructions workers unable to work again through serious injury. I would encourage every construction worker to watch a presentation by any of the following Shattered Lives Ambassadors Jason Anker MBE, Paul Blanchard and Dylan Skelhorn and see the impact it has had on their lives and their families’ lives.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOprR-RhO4I
Bricklayer on site at Easthorpe Green
With No Falls Week also coming up, are there any new pieces of equipment Gusto Construction are using to make working at height safer than it was 5 years ago?
“The construction industry has made some big advances in addressing the risk from falls from height in recent years, one of these being the use of internal decking platforms in preference to air bags. An internal decking platform will not only prevent a fall but also provides a working platform making roof truss installation much safer and helps prevent internal falls for all trades working at height. Air bags only help mitigate the consequences of a fall. Falls from height remain the biggest cause of death on construction sites with 35 fatalities from falls from height in 2024/2025 so there is still work to do across the country.”
Safety isn’t just for construction workers; we have a duty to keep visitors on site safe too. What can our clients or the public do to support a safe environment when they are near or visiting one of our sites?
“There are a few simple steps visitor to our construction sites can take to help ensure their safety whilst visiting.
On arrival to site stay within the car park / compound area and introduce yourself to the site manager. Never wander on to site to look for someone.
Follow any instruction given to you by the site manager and wear all required PPE, spare PPE will be available on site for visitors.
Do not enter any areas where construction works are being undertaken and never wander off away from the site manager or other worker who is showing you around site.
Do not interfere with any tooling or materials on site.
Report any concerns to the site manager. All site visitors are also encouraged to scan the Gusto QR code to notify the H&S team of any concerns they may have.
Parents who are living in or around construction site are encouraged to warn children of the risks of entering construction sites and should they have any concerns use the Gusto Construction QR code to notify the H&S manager of any concerns they may have.”
If you could leave the team with one piece of advice to carry through the month of May and the rest of the year, what would it be?
“Safety is everyone’s responsibility. Be proud to work safe!”
A big thank you to David for sharing his thoughts. We’re proud to have him leading the way as we continue our work as experienced building contractors on projects around Newark, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.
The Gusto Construction Team
Want to find out more?
As one of the leading local sustainable construction companies, we are committed to sharing knowledge and keeping our community safe. If you’re interested in the national campaigns David mentioned, or want to keep up with what he’s doing across our sites, you can find more information below: