BAA plays the tough guy to ensure safety on sites

BAA admits to being a tough client, but denies that exerting time pressure on its contractors leads to a risk of corner-cutting and unsafe practices on site.
Mark Westwood, BAA Construction's health and safety manager, said that BAA's airports are a difficult environment for construction companies, largely due to the tough deadlines imposed on contractors.
But he argued that the safety culture the client drums into its supply chain ensures that this does not cause a greater risk of accidents and injuries.
Westwood advised other construction clients to review their supply chain selection and monitoring processes to improve safety. "It's worth making the effort at the front end of the process to ensure you get the right, safe supplier. This is your best opportunity to challenge a contractor's safety statement.
"Then you must make clear your expectations and demonstrate the importance you place on safety. And inform suppliers that you expect them to come to the table with good ideas."
He added that it is also important to recognise and reward good safety performance in your supply chain.
BAA's "One in a Million" campaign aims to limit accidents to one in every million man-hours worked. "Considering that the average working lifetime is 100,000 hours, one in a million is one accident in every 10 lifetimes," said Westwood.
Recording near misses is more important than measuring reportable injuries, according to Westwood. "Measuring accidents is measuring failure," he said. "It's important, but does not paint a true picture."
He endorsed Carillion's "Don't Walk By" scheme and said that BAA uses tours, audits and inspections to measure safety performance and make improvements.