Episode Nine: Climate Change and the Construction Industry. Plus How This Group of Leaders are Helping with Health Issues

At the time of releasing this episode, wildfires have been raging again in Greece and temperatures have become unbearable across parts of the States, it really is impossible to avoid the issue of climate change. Pete The Builder talks to Steve Randall about how this affects the construction industry and how you and your team can best deal with this huge issue.

Skanska’s Director of Health, Safety and Well Being, Dylan Roberts, joins us but wearing a slightly different hat. Dylan is part of an industry group steering health in the construction industry. Did you know that:

Dylan talks about how we need to Think Health. The Health in Construction Leadership Group (HCLG) was formed in 2014 after a challenge from HSE’s Construction Industry Advisory Committee (ConIAC) for the industry to do more to ‘Think Health’ and responding to the influence of ‘Construction 2025’, the Industry Strategy for Construction.​

The group is comprised of contractors, clients, the Health and Safety Executive, professional bodies, trade associations and trade unions.

The role of the HCLG is to act as both a stimulus and a catalyst in helping unify the industry in its approach to worker health protection and the promotion, adoption and implementation of best practice processes and initiatives.​

The HCLG has engaged key business leaders and industry influencers in the construction sector through its Health in Construction CEO Summit events in 2016 and 2017.​

At these events, CEOs made a commitment to eradicate the thousands of cases of ill health and disease caused every year as a result of exposure to health hazards during construction work, as well as to address the growing incidence of mental ill-health in our workforce. ​

There is much to achieve by the overall target date of 2025. From 2021, the HCLG will focus on the key areas of promoting good mental health, the prevention of respiratory disease and the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders. These focus areas will be reflected in the revised strategy which will be published here shortly.

This episode of Constructive Voices is sponsored by Viewpoint, a Trimble Company.