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But to avoid serious incidents happening in the first place, contractors need to be more proactive and get health and safety experts involved in their projects at the beginning. If we are employed at the start, we can take the time to fully understand the project and allow the client to take our lead.

If they don’t, they end up paying for an investigation and costs for remedial works. They may also have lost time on their project and earned themselves a bad reputation in the process.

While attitudes are starting to change, I believe we still have some way to go when it comes to education. For health and safety to work, there has to be a commitment to make sure everyone is aware of their roles and responsibilities. Sadly, this is not always the case.

I often run health and safety refresher courses and you would be surprised at the number of professionals, including architects and designers, who don’t fully understand their obligations. This is something which has to change.

Out on site, however, we do have new technology at our fingertips which is helping to make working