Gilbert-Ash has taken its Safety In Numbers health and safety campaign directly to construction teams across the UK and Ireland, encouraging workers to play a more active role in identifying and reporting potential hazards.
The campaign was launched at the contractor’s GA Summit earlier this year and has since been taken on the road, with two branded taxis – one based in Belfast and one in London – visiting projects and offices to raise awareness of the initiative.
The taxis travelled more than 800 miles between them, stopping at locations including Gilbert-Ash’s Belfast headquarters, Tate Liverpool, Premier Inn Jervis Street in Dublin, RIBA’s headquarters in London, the Royal Academy of Music campus and Long Ashton in Bristol.
At each stop, site teams were introduced to the campaign’s ‘Spot, Snap, Share’ approach to hazard reporting. Workers were also given new hi-vis vests, water bottles and doughnuts as a thank you for getting involved.
Safety In Numbers is intended to build on Gilbert-Ash’s existing health and safety culture by improving hazard-spotting skills and encouraging greater confidence in raising concerns.
The initiative encourages anyone working on a Gilbert-Ash site – including subcontractors – to report potential hazards using QR codes displayed across its sites.
John McGerty, SHEQ manager at Gilbert-Ash, said the response from site teams and clients had been positive.
“The more eyes we have on the lookout, the safer everyone will be,” he said. “Safety In Numbers is about sharing the responsibility and doing the right thing every time.”
He added that the contractor’s focus would now be on maintaining the momentum behind the campaign and keeping safety “front of mind on every site, every day”.
Gilbert-Ash managing director Ray Hutchinson said the initiative reflected the company’s wider ‘As One’ approach.
“We work, think and plan together – and nowhere does that matter more than on site, where everyone watching out for everyone else makes us all safer,” he said.
“Safety In Numbers helps us raise standards further by giving every person on site the confidence and tools to speak up when they spot a potential risk.”
