Colleagues Jonathan Meare MCIOB and Stuart Hall did, after hearing how a pipe-fitter they knew suffered a serious accident because of one — a wire brush attached to a grinder got caught in the material resulting in serious facial scarring. But, proving good things can come from bad, they have designed a new style of closer-fitting vest with the material cut away from the working area. The vest also features a patch pocket for ID cards.
The product holds BSEN471 certification and carries the CE safety mark. The first market has proved to be Spain and Portugal where motorists have to carry high-vis vests in their cars in case of breakdown.
But the duo naturally now want to see their product make UK construction sites that bit safer. Balfour Beatty and Laing O’Rourke have apparently expressed interest in the vests, which are available at the same price as standard ones.
… helping a charity in your tea break?
We like Linden Homes’ style — why train for months for a marathon when you can raise money in a warm office with a nice cup of tea to hand?
A team from head office in Hessle, East Yorkshire, undertook an arduous Jaffa Cake challenge to boost funds for nearby St Andrew’s Hospice. Staff competed to see who could polish off the most Jaffa Cakes in a minute, each paying a donation to enter the challenge.
Around £50 was collected, which the company will also match. The winner was purchase assistant Gemma Clarke with a respectable six Jaffas.
… patching up wear and tear with Lego-bombing?
Does that missing piece of render on the building next door really annoy you? Thanks to the power of social media and instant online trends, we bring you the solution — Lego bombing.
The phenomenon of using small Danish plastic bricks to patch holes in plaster and brickwork has taken off in Italy, Tunisia, Ecuador, France, Germany and Israel. The UK is clearly behind the curve, any volunteers?
Lego bombing from cities around the world is chronicled on the website www.dispatchwork.info
… a new take on pupil engagement?
Most contractors who’ve worked on schools projects will be familiar with the “design the safety poster competition” to communicate the safety message to under 10s, or the “grafitti the site hoardings artist workshop” to get down with the teenagers. But Shepherd Construction has come up with new idea to interest pupils in what’s happening on site while their new buildings are under wraps.
Students at Nuneaton Academy in Warwickshire, and Priory Ruskin Academy and University Academy Holbeach in Lincolnshire — all being built by Shepherd — will produce a film about the construction programme at their school. The pupils have been given an open brief, so they can pick a technical or personal theme.
The Cineclub Project, run on Shepherd’s behalf by the Transformation Trust charity, will run to October, when the three films will be screened and a winner chosen.
