It would appear that the various renewable “green” speculators have little or no interest in our environment but also in our health and safety. After months of investigations using Freedom of Information requests and ultimately the Information Commissioner requesting the information pertinent to 5 major proposals, not one company complied with the appropriate Health & Safety legislation.
This would raise many concerns as to the level of safety in their designs plus how many projects that have been rushed to construction have been or are being built with more attention given to financial benefits than to the safety of our communities.
Having listened to the presentation by various speculators on their adherence to legislation, in this case the Construction Design and Management 2015 regulations their awareness was somewhat lacking. At the meetings they would be challenged, on compliance, if they had issued the advisory Health and Safety Executive form (F10). The general verbal response was no, but in one case it was stated “what is CDM 2015 and what is this F10 form”.
The most important aspect is that the F10 form follows the appointment of a Principal Designer (PD). The basic principle behind CDM is to ensure safety is a main feature of all the design development phases through to the demolition stage. With all the appropriate steps and decisions recorded in the Health and Safety File.
This should raise many concerns as to the level of safety in their designs plus how many projects have been rushed to construction have been or are being built with more attention given to financial benefits than to the safety of our communities.
The obvious implication of this almost standard approach is potentially far-reaching and significant in consequences and as such I have advised my local MP who has stated he will raise concerns at the appropriate Government level.
Jim Pearson is a retired Fellow of both civil engineering and environment
Comment from Scotland Against Spin: As developers bring industrial renewable and energy developments ever closer to residential properties, there should be a HSE input into Environmental Impact Assessments to ensure public safety as a minimum.
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