UK NEWS

BUILDING GRINDS TO A HALT BECAUSE HARD HATS ARE WRONG COLOUR

Blue hats for those who do not have trackside safety certificates

Thursday September 4,2008

By Brian Swanson

WORK on a £285million shopping and leisure centre ground to a halt when builders were forced to down tools because they were wearing the wrong colour of hard hats.

Disruption was caused at the Union Square project in Aberdeen after contractors were told their headgear broke healthy and safety regulations.

The massive project lies next to the Granite City’s railway station and under Network Rail safety rules those who do not have trackside safety certificates must wear blue hats.

White hats are reserved for those who hold the certificates.

The lack of blue hats on site meant that work on some parts of the developments were cancelled until new hats were delivered to the site.

Both Network Rail and main contractors Miller Construction insisted the confusion had not caused any significant delays to the project.

But one employee described the situation as “ridiculous” and claimed it was hampering progress to meet the autumn 2009 deadline.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “The delay was probably a few hours in the morning and only on a small section of the site.

“For health and safety reasons we require contractors who do not have track safety certificates to wear blue hard hats so they are easily identifiable and can be properly supervised.

“There have been occasions when some contractors at the Aberdeen site have failed to meet this basic requirement and have been unable to commence work on time, but these are minor incidents and not something that will have an adverse impact on the delivery of the project.” A spokeswoman for Miller said: “Network Rail recently introduced new health and safety rules stipulating that all contractors working on the railway lines should wear a blue hard hat.

“As our site perimeter is in close proximity we have been asked to comply with this rule, which we are, of course, happy to do.

“We are committed to adhering to all health and safety rules which are put in place and, as such, we redeployed a small number of workers to other areas of the site while we dispatched the equipment required.”

The other two contractors involved – NG Bailey and PJ Carey – denied that they were responsible for the confusion.

A spokesman for the Rail Regulator, which is responsible for health and safety issues, said: “We do not stipulate what colours are used for safety helmets. That would be up to Network Rail management to interpret safety requirements according to local conditions.”

And a spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive in Scotland said: “Hard hats can be any colour as long as they comply with the appropriate safety standards.”

The new development, on schedule to be completed by the end of next year, involved the demolition and replacement of the old bus station and the creation of a new road layout.

Next, New Look, H&M, Zara and TK Maxx have signed leases for the site, which will also feature a Cine UK multiplex cinema.