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OPINION: Materials handling industry is at the mercy of Brexit

Building Specifier caught up with a leading expert in materials handling who warns of the impact Brexit will have on his industry.

Paul Casebourne, who has years of experience in creating engineering solutions and runs the Materials Handling Hub, believes that the industry has been forgotten as one of the potential casualties of the UK leaving Europe.

He claims the industry is already suffering as a result of the uncertainty about the country’s relationship with the EU.

The materials handling industry currently accounts for some of the biggest imports and exports in the UK, with machinery and vehicles accounting for a combined worth of £55b.

Half of this business is done with Europe and Mr Casebourne believes that if it is more expensive to trade with EU states post-Brexit, the outcome could be catastrophic.

He also warned “there are at least two major global materials handling companies who await the results of the troubled Irish Border question where skills are drawn from both sides of the divide.”

“The UK currently benefits from the free movement of goods within the EU. This means imports from other EU member states have no import duties, taxes or customs clearance,” he said.

“More to the point the harmonisation of engineering standards requires representations if we are to keep up with international projects. We currently have EU rights to be included in tenders within the EU, I have heard of no plans to make up ground in this respect.

“Forty years of work in the balance and not a word of comfort from the political structure.”

Casebourne also expressed his concern on the situation in the UK around export and import duties.

“Following Brexit, the UK will be back to custom clearing its EU imports as well as paying taxes and import duties on them and it’s possible that some goods will require an import license after Brexit,” he said.

“The extra tier of administration simply makes it harder to compete and adds unnecessary delays to international trade.

“Companies will have to revert to commercial invoices which determines the import duty they have to pay – all of which can have a huge impact on a business.”

Paul Casebourne

Mr Casebourne believes that while many industries have expressed their concern about what Brexit means now nobody seems to have looked at the impact this will have – and that it is already having – on the materials handling industry.”

Mr Casebourne, who has worked in the industry for more than 40 years and supplies equipment to a range of industries and also creates bespoke solutions, added that “we’ve already seen a number of big projects put on hold and people are reluctant to invest in new equipment.”

“Across the board business is not as good as it could be in the industry and the uncertainty about the future is not helping” he added, who via his Materials Handling Hub website shares best practice and brings together customers and suppliers.

“The whole situation really is intolerable at the moment while we are neither in or out. The UK has launched itself headlong into a 20-year project with no plan B, in fact without any plans at all whilst still handcuffed to the EU, powerless to put the plans in place that we need to get on with investing in our future.”

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Experts warn that planning system is failing those in greatest need

Councils in the most deprived areas of England are meeting only a fraction of their requirements for affordable housing because the planning system is not set up to deliver homes for people in the greatest need, according to a recent report.

Between 2016-17, Blackpool, Knowsley and Pendle—whose residents take home some of the lowest incomes in the country—saw no new affordable housing delivered through the planning system and less than 7% of their requirement met by other means. On the other end of the spectrum, affluent areas including the Vale of White Horse were able to deliver 96% of their affordable housing using the planning system.

The planning system is one of the main drivers for delivering affordable housing in England, with 70% of councils saying they rely on it substantially to allow them to meet housing need. Local requirements for affordable housing are usually set as a percentage of overall housing delivered on a scheme. Councils have said deprived areas are being left behind by the current system because only high-value areas can meet developers’ profit expectations and still deliver affordable homes.

Figures show that although over half of councils have set a minimum threshold for genuinely affordable housing using their local plans, only 2% actually manage to achieve it.

Developers have traditionally managed to bypass local requirements for affordable housing by first submitting a scheme that meets the threshold, but later backing out of their commitment, claiming unworkable profit margins. The government attempted to address this problem earlier in the year by restricting the use of viability testing to only ‘particular circumstances’, although councils aren’t convinced that this will curb the problem. One official claimed that the changes will simply create new issues, which local authorities will struggle to react to.

The report also finds that councils often specify much lower numbers of affordable housing in their local plans than necessary because they believe that setting a level which meets their true requirement would deter developers from investing in their areas. This has seen deprived areas setting their target as low as 5% of new affordable housing—when the actual need is sometimes as high as 84%­—but still seeing no new homes created for lower-earning residents.

Planning for Affordable Housing, which was funded by the Nationwide Foundation, makes a series of recommendations about what needs to change to the planning system to deliver more affordable housing for people in need across the country, and highlights the critical role that innovative councils are playing to secure more affordable homes.

Henry Smith, projects and policy manager at the TCPA, said “Although housing costs are often lower in more deprived areas of the country, they’re still out of reach for many local people. This research shows that the housing crisis truly is a national problem and not only limited to major cities and those living in the south east.

“Councils are being put in a difficult situation where they’re forced to furiously attract development to meet a five-year target imposed on them by the government, but at the same time negotiate with developers to make sure that what is actually affordable to people most in need.

“Many councils are responding to these difficult circumstances by acting in new and innovative ways, such as fast-tracking planning applications—considered a barrier by many developers—for schemes which meet higher levels of affordable housing. However, to truly make a dent on these numbers the government needs to immediately increase grant levels for councils and housing associations to enable them to deliver genuinely affordable homes. It is also essential that the government creates a definition of affordable housing, which links affordability to income and people’s ability to pay, rather than an arbitrary portion of the market rate.”

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There are still many danger’s in the construction workplace.

From the 22nd – 28th October the European week for safety and health at work will focus on the prevention of risks posed by dangerous substances within the workplace.  In the UK 8,000 people die due to exposure of carcinogens at work and 13,500 new occupational cancer cases are registered in the UK.

Our industry accounts for the single largest number of occupational cancer cases with approximately 3,500 cancer deaths and 5,500 new cancer registrations each year in Britain.  The main factors involved in this are past exposure to asbestos along with exposure to silica, solar radiation, welding fumes and other contributing factors.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work’s (EU-OSHA) aims to reduce the exposure of workers to dangerous substances as outlined in their document ‘Healthy Workplaces Manage Dangerous Substances’.

“Protecting workers from exposure to carcinogens is one of the key challenges for occupational safety and health in the 21st century. We are working to highlight the scale of the problem and the importance of preventing exposure to carcinogens at work as part of our current campaign. We believe that by informing and educating workers and employers, as well as offering practical solutions, we can reduce and even eliminate exposure to carcinogens at work, thereby preventing needless suffering and deaths from cancer. said Christa Sedlatschek, Executive Director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA)

Although use of some of the most dangerous substances, such as asbestos, are now banned or strictly controlled, modern workplaces continue to expose workers to dangerous agents, such as highly toxic liquids and chemicals, as well as nanomaterials, the health risks of which are not yet fully understood but predicted to be even greater.” said David Parr, Policy and Technical Services Director at the British Safety Council.

“The most effective way of managing exposure to dangerous substances in the workplace is the creation of a risk prevention culture. When this happens, workers are pro-actively involved in risk assessment processes and are well informed about the dangers, as well as the control measures that can be taken to prevent or control them.

“Occupational exposure limits (OELs) for hazardous substances laid down in European OSH directives are crucial for the protection of workers’ health. With Brexit growing increasingly imminent, it essential that the well-established control regime relating to this issue is not compromised in any way by the UK’s withdrawal process”

The British Safety Council has been working with employers and decision makers for over 60 years.  Their vision is that no-one should be injured or made ill at work and they are delighted to be supporting EU-OSHA’s campaign through there monthly magazine ‘safety management’.

 

 

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Construction in the North West is ten times higher than national average

Recently published figures show that overall construction output in the North West is up 15% – 10 times the national average.

According to the Office of National Statistics, total construction output across the region is up to more than £4.6 billion in the 3 months to August 2018 compared to the same period last year.

Overall construction output in Great Britain for this period is up 1.5% compared to the same period last year meaning the North West’s increase is 10 times the national average.

The value of construction work on new housing in the North West has increased by £386 million this quarter compared to the same quarter in 2017 and output of new infrastructure projects has also risen during this period.

Northern Powerhouse Minister, Jake Berry MP, said “It’s wonderful to see how the Northern Powerhouse is driving investment in the North West and helping grow the construction industry to the tune of over £600 million.

“Anyone visiting the North West can see the huge number of construction projects underway and these figures show just how valuable they are.

“This construction boom is helping build new homes, new infrastructure and a stronger economy in the region.”

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Government investment to overcome barriers to building

Investment to tackle issues on potential housing sites and get homes built in areas where they are needed most has been launched by Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP.

Issues like land contamination, infrastructure requirements, and complex land ownership can present real barriers to building homes where they are needed most.

From this week, the government is intervening by providing 2 streams of investment – the Land Assembly Fund and the Small Sites Fund – for Homes England to deploy alongside their expertise. This will help release land to deliver 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s.

The £1.3 billion Land Assembly Fund, will be used to acquire land needing work and get it ready for the market, making it less risky for developers to invest in and start building. Outside of London this work will be carried out by Homes England.

For public land owners or local authorities that are struggling to get building on land in their area, the £630 million Small Sites Fund will provide grant funding to speed up getting the right infrastructure in place to support home building on stalled small sites to provide the homes their communities need.

Communities Secretary, Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said “We need to act on a number of fronts to build the homes this country needs.

“The availability of this investment will help us intervene in the sort of sites that aren’t yet ready to build on, or where developers have been put off.

“Developers can now get straight on with building homes, rather than overcoming the barriers to build. And in the same way we are also supporting councils that have land for housing, but need additional help to enable development.”

An example of Homes England acquiring land is Burgess Hill in Sussex, a site that desperately needed affordable housing, but which sat undeveloped for years. The national housing agency has stepped in, bought the land and is also delivering the infrastructure, so that the roads, schools and doctor’s surgeries are all in place for over 3,000 new homes that will now be built there.

Homes England Chairman, Sir Edward Lister said “Homes England is stepping in where the market isn’t working, unlocking land and releasing sites to those developers that are committed to providing homes at pace.

“The £1.9 billion announced by the government today will mean we can invest in crucial infrastructure and help local authorities to get more homes built on public land.”

The government will work closely with the Greater London Authority to help ensure targeted funding through the Land Assembly Fund and Small Sites Fund can deliver additional homes in the capital.

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MAC recommendations would cripple construction

The Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) report, which sets out a series of recommendations for the new immigration policy post-Brexit, would cripple the construction industry, according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Commenting on the MAC report published this week, Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said “This report makes very worrying reading for the tens of thousands of small construction firms across the UK who are already deeply concerned about the skills shortage. Its recommendations ignore the pleas of construction employers who have called on the Government to introduce a visa system based on key occupations rather than arbitrary skill levels. Instead, the proposal is to apply the Tier 2 immigration system to EU workers, which would be disastrous for small and micro construction firms. Even if tweaked and improved slightly, the Tier 2 system would not make provision for ample numbers of low skilled workers to enter the UK and these are people the construction industry relies upon. For the Government to make good on its construction and house building targets, it will need sufficient numbers of labourers as well as civil engineers and quantity surveyors.

“It’s not at all clear that EU workers with important skills already in short supply, like bricklaying and carpentry, will not fall foul of a crude and limited definition of ‘high skilled’ worker. In addition, the report explicitly recommends that there should be no migration route for lower skilled workers with the possible exception for seasonal agricultural workers. There is also a vague suggestion that if there was a route for lower skilled workers, it should be aimed at younger people and not be open to workers of all ages. This is far too restrictive and simply won’t meet the needs of the construction industry.

“EU workers are vitally important to the UK construction sector. Nine per cent of our construction workers are from the EU and in London, this increases to one third. These workers have played a very significant role in mitigating the severe skills shortages we have experienced in recent years. The construction industry knows it needs to do much more to recruit and train many more domestic workers. However, given the important role migrant workers have played, and the already high levels of employment in the UK workforce, it is crucial that the post-Brexit immigration system allows us to continue to hire workers of varying skill levels, regardless of where they are from.”

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Fatigue in construction is the “Phantom Menace”

The construction industry is a major engine of GDP (over 100 billion in economic output) and employs over two million people in the UK. However, it suffers more than many industries in terms of accidents and injury. With more than 43 fatal accidents in 2017 (four times more than the average across all industries) and over 5,000 non-fatal accidents it is no wonder that this industry more than others is regarded as high risk.

Add to this the other 65,000 work related illness (Stress, Depression, Musculoskeletal Disorders, Respiratory and Skin conditions) and it is clear that Health and Safety needs to be embedded at every level of the organisation and especially integrated into the planning process.

Clearly there are unique and challenging circumstances with construction sites; the dynamic and changing environment and the lack of inherent infrastructure all combine to frustrate the best safety plans. What was safe yesterday may not be as safe today. An unoccupied area yesterday may be occupied today. Multiple activities concurrently taking place create varying risk each day.

Add to this “P&P” (Pressure & Penalties) which are now standard in the industry: if tight deadlines are not met there can be seriously damaging financial penalties and so a six or seven-day week and/or long hours for workers is commonplace. Little wonder then that injury rates are so high.

But beyond the hard hats and high vis, what can be done to reduce this blight upon the industry?

The first is the recognition that fatigue is your greatest enemy. Fatigue impairs your ability to process information, slows your reactions and decreases awareness and attention. In short, it reduces your ability to accurately estimate risk. In fact, 20% of major road incidents are the result of fatigue and many of the most publicised accidents (Exxon Valdez, Herald of Free Enterprise, Chernobyl, Clapham Junction, Texas City and Challenger) have been linked to tiredness.

To put it simply in many cases fatigue is a predictor (“lead” indicator) to an accident (“lag” indicator).

The maxim “you can’t prevent what you can’t predict” is very pertinent here. If you can understand the causes and drivers of accidents (fatigue) and you can assess likely fatigue in shifts/patterns, then you can reduce fatigue and prevent the associated outcomes (accidents)

The second is to recognise that long hours/weeks are not the friend of tight deadlines but its nemesis. Accidents create downtime and lost productivity. They CAUSE delays. However, because there is not a 100% correlation between fatigue and accidents, there is a tendency to roll the dice when pressure and deadlines encroach. But you cannot build an enduring business or industry upon this strategy. It is not a replicable/repeatable route to success. You may dodge the bullet more than most but sooner or later it will hit and may create not only contractual or financial strife but also long term reputational damage.

The solution lies with new technology and software that ensures you have the right people in the right place at the right time with the right skills. These planning systems can build in sufficient periods or rest and cover for absence/training and holidays, so you can ensure both and safe and optimum levels of resource to meet deadlines without the need for overtime/extended work periods. The benefit of planning effectively also delivers dividends through reducing fatigue, overtime costs, absence and accidents. Indeed, some solutions already have fatigue factors built into the system to reduce risk and provide assurance.

Another risk factor within construction sites is keeping track of who is on-site and where they are. Again, technology has come a long way with mobile apps which allow supervisors to register staff onsite, fully self-sufficient clocking terminals that are solar/battery powered with 3G for data transit, and beacons/tags that allow the site manager to know exactly who has turned up and exactly where they are in real-time. These solutions are the next generation “high visibility” tools allowing the site manager to know who is where without the need for line of site or audio contact. If there is an situation or emergency, the site manager can instantly view the location and presence of his team and act immediately.

The ability to plan and track workers in real-time does not only reduce accidents but also provides a constant feed-back loop to enable planners to constantly improve their planning based on outcomes. This process is not only critical to ensure health and safety but also though analysis, improve quality, productivity, delivery and reduce downtime, accidents and delay.

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Why investing in reliable internet is critical for construction programmes

According to Mobile Data and Fixed Line communications company Comms365, the construction sector’s appetite for reliable internet services has increased dramatically in recent years due to the growing number of devices and cloud-based applications in use on construction sites. In our world of rapidly advancing technology, construction sites need minimum bandwidths to use new apps and software for contract and supplier management, surveys, geolocation and workflow. Without reliable internet access, communication is hindered and sites can’t operate as well as they need to.

The challenge may arise in provisioning the internet resources in the first place: From industry experience, there is 30% chance that any ethernet installation will be disrupted due to wayleave or lack of fibre infrastructure. If any of your sites have suffered from a delay in the install of a fixed line, you’ll be familiar with the financial cost that this disruption causes.

As construction companies often work in locations where fixed connectivity is limited, expensive or impossible, IT managers and programme leads are investing in reliable and secure cost-effective bonded internet solutions.

Reliable internet connections are needed by construction managers to communicate with architects, contractors and clients to keep sites running efficiently. Web access is needed for site workers as well as guest contractors, architect and visitors who need immediate access to plans, surveys and orders as well as technical and health and safety information. This means that unreliable or delayed connections can have impacts on client relationships, contract management and on-site safety as well as the bottom line.

In summary, the benefits of having reliable connectivity far outweigh the costs.

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New skills needed to harness true potential of offsite construction

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Offsite construction could revolutionise the construction industry and provide a solution to the UK housing shortage, but only if the sector develops the right skills.

Faster, Smarter, More Efficient: Building Skills for Offsite Construction shows that 42% of construction industry employers with over 100 staff expect to use offsite methods in five years’ time.

When asked about the use of offsite-specific construction materials and products, 100% said they expected the use of precast concrete panels to increase; 91% anticipated the use of precast concrete frame to rise.

At present however, offsite construction accounts for just 10% of industry output.

The report – which follows the recommendations set out in industry expert Mark Farmer’s government-backed review of UK construction – also reveals that nearly 50% of construction industry clients expect the use of offsite construction to increase over the next five years.

Offsite processes save time and money and can improve quality through pre-fabrication of components – from panels to fully fitted rooms.

Mark Farmer said “The urgency for modernisation has never been greater, set against an insidious backdrop of an ageing workforce and increasing concerns about the impact of Brexit.

“Any strategic shift towards pre-manufacturing and offsite construction creates an immediate requirement to define our future skills needs through collaboration between industry, educators, training providers and government.

“This is crucial to ensuring we can transition to a higher productivity, digitally enabled industry which inherently attracts more of the young talent we so desperately need. It should also set out clear opportunities for the existing construction workforce and indeed workers from other industries to reskill through a new family of career pathways.”

Steve Radley, Director of Policy at CITB, said “There is massive potential for offsite construction. The Government recently announced an additional £1.4bn of funding for affordable homes, with an increase in offsite construction set as an objective, representing a clear opportunity for growth in this area.

“The greatest potential currently lies within the housing and commercial sectors, where mass customisation can create the buildings we need more quickly and to higher standards. There are also opportunities to bring the benefits of offsite to large-scale infrastructure projects – some high profile examples include HS2 and Hinkley Point, which are already using offsite techniques.”

The report outlines six key skills areas related to offsite construction:

  1. digital design
  2. estimating/commercial
  3. offsite manufacturing
  4. logistics
  5. site management and integration
  6. onsite placement and assembly

Increasingly, workers will need the skills to move between offsite and onsite environments and so the training for these six areas must evolve to meet the changing demand.

Currently, significant barriers exist which prevent the delivery of training and skills to meet the needs of these crucial areas. These include:

  • Existing training does not include the required offsite content
  • Lack of awareness and suitability of available training and qualifications – companies are delivering their own ‘in-house’ training, which leads to non-standard approaches
  • A shortage of qualified training providers and assessors

Steve Radley concluded “Successful offsite management hinges on the effective integration of both onsite and offsite functions – and this requires a comprehensive understanding of both aspects.”

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