Questions and Answers

What is “practical completion” in a building contract?

One of the workers on my night shift is a follower of the Islamic faith, and has come to me to talk about Ramadan. He doesn’t have enough holiday to take time off during Ramadan in spring this year, and we are short on staff as a lot of people are off on holiday. What provisions do we have to put in place to consume food and drink and take part in prayers during the hours of sun down?

We have employees from diverse ethnic backgrounds that work outdoors. As part of a “sun safe” campaign I want to provide them with some basic advice about when to protect their skin from the sun. Could you outline how I could do this?

We are working on a construction site that has electric gates. I remember a number of horrible accidents where children were crushed by automatic gates. How can I be sure these gates are safe and won’t injure my employees or members of the public (including children)?

We are working on a new building site which has a high voltage supply. We have been told that we need an Authorised Person appointed in writing, is that correct? What qualification would the Authorised Person need to hold?

Holding onto our staff is proving to be a real problem. How can we ensure our business is an attractive place to work?

Our property has a fire sprinkler system installed. A recent fire safety inspection has raised the question of what weekly checks are required and competency to undertake such checking. What is the legal position on this?

What is a notifiable project under CDM 2015?

What are the steps our business needs to take to increase the diversity across our workforce?

I heard recently that it is recommended that all electrical wiring systems in fire escape routes must be prevented from collapsing in the event of a fire. Is this the case and what would constitute an escape route?