First Aider on site - required?

[Jac]

Hi, trying to get organised for kit coming onsite next month so site toilet being ordered , however, just had thought about First Aid.  Is it a legal requirement to have a qualified First Aider on site too? Just another one of those disturbed night thoughts!

[nod]

It isn’t 

Worth having a basic kit Eye wash plasters etc 

Accident book and signing in and out book 

[Jac]

2 minutes ago, nod said:

It isn’t 

Worth having a basic kit Eye wash plasters etc 

Accident book and signing in and out book 

Thanks for reply - Accident Book and Signing In /Out book.  Stupidly didnt think of those.  Thanks!

[Conor]

Induction paperwork, site risk assessment, display your insurance documents, loads of posters and you'll be grand.

 

If you are getting a toilet, try and get one with proper hot running water for hand washing. I regret just getting a chemical portaloo and not plumbing in a proper bathroom unit.

Edited September 5, 2021 by Conor

[Jac]

4 minutes ago, Conor said:

Induction paperwork, site risk assessment, display your insurance documents, loads of posters and you'll be grand.

 

If you are getting a toilet, try and get one with proper hot running water for hand washing. I regret just getting a chemical portaloo and not plumbing in a proper bathroom unit.

Thanks, Conor, - All suggestions that should have been obvious to me.  Past few months have been consumed with Planning and Building Warrant paperwork and now it’s all systems go.  Feel a bit caught in the headlights.  Yes, definitely having toilet plumbed in!

[nod]

47 minutes ago, Jac said:

Thanks, Conor, - All suggestions that should have been obvious to me.  Past few months have been consumed with Planning and Building Warrant paperwork and now it’s all systems go.  Feel a bit caught in the headlights.  Yes, definitely having toilet plumbed in!

Great if you can get hot water 

Builders will be surprised your not sending them to the local pub for a poo ?

[Jac]

1 hour ago, nod said:

Great if you can get hot water 

Builders will be surprised your not sending them to the local pub for a poo ?

Brilliant suggestion - if it saves on the bleach………………?

[joe90]

This was one reason (in hindsight ) that I am glad I had a main contractor, all his responsibility!, however the chaps were  glad we used my static on site for facilities .

[nod]

1 hour ago, Jac said:

Brilliant suggestion - if it saves on the bleach………………?

You would be surprised how many of the conversions I go on that don’t have a useable loo

 

I worked on one site that have rats in the toilet block

H&S said it was nothing to do with him

Site manager said “Did you kill it “?

[Roundtuit]

4 hours ago, Jac said:

Hi, trying to get organised for kit coming onsite next month so site toilet being ordered , however, just had thought about First Aid. 

A couple of fire extinguishers wouldn't go amiss too.

[Dave Jones]

you are over thinking this. Unless you have 20+ on site leave them to it, it wont be their first rodeo.

 

 

[Mr Punter]

It can be difficult to get people to sign in and out.  If you have CCTV you could not bother.  Do a site induction and get each to sign for this and copy their insurance and CSCS cards.

[PeterW]

Basic 10 person 1st aid kit is change of £10

 

Lewis-Plast Premium First Aid Kit, 90-Piece https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FRPXF44/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_C4Y57NVHEW6C7SNCG2GE

 

Same with Eye Wash station - ignore the small bottle ones as they are pointless when you have cement in your eye ..

 

Safety First Aid Group HypaClens Eye Wash Station Cabinet Wall-Mounted with 2 x 500 ml Eye Wash Bottles https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08BHWQZF6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_X8TRR2XCC8AXQTZM3Q4F?psc=1

 

Box of decent fabric plasters is less than £5..

Steroflex AFHA1 Sterile Stretch Fabric Plasters, Assorted Sizes, Pack of 100 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004JVP308/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_1SJ73VYYJ77J4S1RSEPX

 

Last off … a sign saying that everyone on site is responsible for their own safety and the first aid kit is there for emergencies only… 

 

 

 

[Pocster]

Chemical toilet onsite for me over the last 3 years . Not an issue for me but the limited trades on site did tur(n / d ) their nose up at it .

[saveasteading]

It really is worth keeping a site diary. May  be the best £5 you spend on the project.

A day to a page lets you add any info you like, as a rolling notebook, and you will often look back for names and details.

Then you can also fill in notes ahead as reminders.

Main use though is the names of who is there, times, and what they were doing.

Also of deliveries, especially if you have bought it.

The weather too.

You will likely also record when you have given instructions, and any big decisions made.

 

This all becomes very valuable if there are claims for extras or arguments about progress. 

Keeps you in the right too, if anyone was to claim an industrial injury at some previous time....it happens, and a site diary can be crucial in any legal case.

 

Some of that may sound negative, but it isn't. You simply keep a record, and it is amazing how some arguments just disappear when you have notes and photo records.

 

Then after the project you can keep it to look back at the difficulties you overcame.

 

re the fire extinguisher suggestion. Agreed. I once bought one on the way to site, and it was used an hour later on a petrol fire on a roller. Next day I bought another on the way to site. My extinguisher saved their roller, but hey...better than not.

 

[ToughButterCup]

8 hours ago, Jac said:

...  Is it a legal requirement to have a qualified First Aider on site too? 

 

No, it isn't. But I decided to re-qualify as one.

[Thorfun]

46 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

It really is worth keeping a site diary. May  be the best £5 you spend on the project.

 

I don’t have a site diary but I do have a time lapse footage of every day of the build so far with 1 frame every 30s. So unless someone runs on site and then leaves within 30s I think I’ll have footage of them. 

[Pocster]

47 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

 

No, it isn't. But I decided to re-qualify as one.

I’ve got a sore bit in my groin ; can you take a look please ?

[SteamyTea]

8 minutes ago, pocster said:

56 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

 

No, it isn't. But I decided to re-qualify as one.

I’ve got a sore bit in my groin ; can you take a look please ?

I was a gynaecologist, until I got caught.

 

(I have been a 1st aider, qualified as well. Really enjoyed the courses and have been told, by the main dermatologist at the hospital, that my treatment of burns is tip top, better than their casualty.)

Edited September 5, 2021 by SteamyTea

[ToughButterCup]

38 minutes ago, pocster said:

I’ve got a sore bit in my groin ; can you take a look please ?

 

I bet that poor bit is really sore about being  trapped in your groin. Photo please    (Not often I piss Mods off now is it?)

 

 

Edited September 5, 2021 by ToughButterCup

[ToughButterCup]

47 minutes ago, Thorfun said:

... time lapse footage of every day of the build so far with 1 frame every 30s....

 

In conjunction with a paper diary, thats the perfect solution. Easy to provide evidence of (unfortunately for me) criminal damage. Knocked an £8000 invoice right on the head. 

[Jac]

I’m so glad I asked for advice - thanks everyone for all replies. I’ve just ordered warning signs, first aid kit and appropriate sign, sign in/out book, booked myself on a first aid course next Monday to refresh old, forgotten skills.  Will now also buy fire extinguishers and set up cameras to record comings and goings.   Brilliant tips from you all.  ?

We’ll be living in a caravan on-site but I’m drawing the line at offering my toilet.  My excuse is the cat doesn’t take kindly to strangers and her litter box will be in the toilet too.  She needs her privacy…..!  But for my lovely tradesmen ( as I’m sure they all will be ) I’m buying a plumbed in toilet with hot water for their needs.  Goodness this housebuilding is a minefield.

 

 

[ToughButterCup]

12 hours ago, Jac said:

...  Goodness this housebuilding is a minefield.

 

I've forgotten who it was - a new member - made a comment recently along the lines of - in the context of his significant high-level experience of large building project management , that the self build sector is the most disfunctional he had ever experienced.  And I tend to agree.

 

I think the issue is the way that many tradespeople - not all by far - think that self builders (in their capacity as Domestic Clients CDM2015) are fair game. Their status as the  inexpert part of the team make them an easy target: despite our status as the paymaster. 

 

12 hours ago, Jac said:

... I’m buying a plumbed in toilet with hot water for their needs.

 

Dont expect it to be treated with any respect for the next person who needs to use it. The only time I ever snarled at the whole team of people who were working for us  was when someone left the loo in sh1t order. The pan was missed, nowt cleaned up - all cleaning stuff necessary to hand, ready to use: gloves , hot water, the lot. They were all banned from that day on. Not a word was said. 

 

In retrospect, I now wish I'd done a lot more snarling. Get a copy of the NHBC Standards, (or similar) download and print them out. That'll give you a framework to help you judge what is being offered as ' workmanlike ' . Snarl the instant you smell unworkmanlike nonsense.

 

Good luck,

Ian

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, ToughButterCup said:

think that self builders (in their capacity as Domestic Clients CDM2015) are fair game

If the clients inexperience costs a contractor time and money then that should be priced in. That is normal in all business.

 

[Haylingbilly]

20 hours ago, saveasteading said:

It really is worth keeping a site diary. May  be the best £5 you spend on the project.

A day to a page lets you add any info you like, as a rolling notebook, and you will often look back for names and details.

Then you can also fill in notes ahead as reminders.

Main use though is the names of who is there, times, and what they were doing.

Also of deliveries, especially if you have bought it.

The weather too.

You will likely also record when you have given instructions, and any big decisions made.

 

This all becomes very valuable if there are claims for extras or arguments about progress. 

Keeps you in the right too, if anyone was to claim an industrial injury at some previous time....it happens, and a site diary can be crucial in any legal case.

 

 

 

Very wise words - I did this, until the time where I subcontracted the timber frame erection. Ironically it was for this part of the build I could have really done with it!