More than half of office workers in the UK are unhappy with technology in their workplace, according to the latest study released by Savills and the British Council for Offices (BCO). The research found that just 43% of employees are satisfied with the quality of wireless connections in their office, while 33% of those surveyed say they are not provided with the technology they require to work flexibly. Some 65% of workers do not feel comfortable with employers using wearable technology to track them within the office, although older workers are a bit more amenable to being monitored. The report is entitled ‘What Workers Want’ and shows that workers are unhappy with workplace technology, despite 74% of respondents saying that “good quality wireless technology” is either important or very important to them, which was ranked as being more important than their office having good public transport connections (ranked as important by 71%), food facilities (60%) or available meeting rooms (56%). The poll was conducted among 1,132 UK office workers to investigate the most important factors for employees in the workplace, and the extent to which those requirements are being satisfied by their current working environment. The author of the report and research director at Savills, Steve Lang, commented: “This disconnect between the importance in which workers hold a wireless connection and what employers actually provide demonstrates that workplaces have generally failed to keep up with advances in personal technology, which is surprising given the ever-increasing importance of connectivity in enabling them to function.” Of the respondents, 65% said they felt uncomfortable with the prospect of their employers using technology to track their movements, although somewhat surprisingly, older employees seem more open to the concept than younger ones with 12% of employees aged over 55 said they would be ‘very comfortable’ being monitored, while only 5% of those aged 25-34 selected this option.

Eight top performing building service companies and electrical firms picked up major accolades at the 2016 ECA Gala Dinner Awards at Celtic Manor in South Wales. The awards evening was attended by hundreds of industry leaders and was supported by headline sponsor LEDVANCE. The night’s award winners were: ECA Large Contractor of the Year Award (sponsored by Schneider Electric) Winner: W T Parker Group Services Highly commended: Imtech Engineering Services Central   ECA Contractor of the Year Award – up to £20 million turnover (sponsored by Electrium) Winner: Haydon Mechanical & Electrical Highly commended: Braham Electrical   ECA Contractor of the Year Award – up to £5 million turnover (sponsored by Hager) Winner: Amalgamated Highly commended: DES Electrical Contractors UK   ECA Contractor of the Year Award– up to £1 million turnover (sponsored by Edmundson Electrical) Winner: Power Electrics (Bristol) Highly commended: Panks Engineers Ltd and Elsym Installations   Best Client/Contractor Partnership Award (sponsored by ECIC) Winner: DES Electrical Contractors UK   Innovation in Contracting Award (sponsored by Eaton) Winner: Marshall Land Systems   Best Health and Safety Initiative Award (sponsored by ABB) Winner: Imtech Engineering Services Central Ltd Highly commended: Darke & Taylor Ltd   Excellence in Training and Development Award (sponsored by JTL) Winner: Quartzelec Ltd Highly commended: Bebbington & Wilson Ltd and N Smith Electrical Ltd   Steve Bratt, Chief Executive Officer at ECA, congratulated the eight winners of the ECA Annual Awards, who saw off stiff competition from a number of high quality entries, while also congratulating the commended and other shortlist candidates. This year’s award saw a record breaking number of entries, which were then assessed by an independent judging panel which included Electrical Industries Charity MD Tessa Ogle and CEDIA’s Wendy Griffiths. After this, 34 entries were nominated for the awards, across the eight award categories. Bratt added: “This year’s ECA Gala Dinner and Awards proved to be a fantastic evening for everyone who attended, and I’m delighted that thousands of pounds were raised for good causes in our industry.”

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has announced the latest round of successful applicants for the Skills and Training Fund. The fund is part of CITB’s ‘Flexible Fund’ and will grant up to £5000 for levy payers with less than 50 employers, to provide their workforce with training and skills. So far, over 100 applicants have been successful in securing £442,268 in funding between them. In this round of successful applicants, all 60 of the small and micro construction companies who were eligible for funding had their bids approved. Four of the bids that were granted in this round were previously rejected but the funding team at CITB gave these firms direct support to help them in building a stronger case for their bid. Meanwhile, seven of the successful applicants were applying for funding for the first time having only recently registered with CITB. Newly registered firms can apply for apprenticeships and for the Skills and Training Fund as soon as they register with the group without any delay. Despite being levy payers for a considerable amount of time, three firms claimed funding from CITB for the first time, these were: R J H Homes, R J Cadman and Skippy Construction. Fourply Construction, a property maintenance company based in Glasgow, was one of the successful bidders and is now set to receive £5000 in funding from CITB which will be used as part of a business improvement training programme for 16 of its staff members. Fourply Constructions Director, Alan Morris, said that his firm was extremely grateful to CITB for the simple application process along with the great support from its staff. He added: “They helped me and updated me every step of the way. The money will make a huge difference to the business.” Among the other successful companies was Northumberland based company, W L Straughan and Son, which will receive £4633.

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has appointed a new president who is focused on making professional ethics one of his main themes during his year in office. A director of Turner & Townsend Project Management, Paul Nash has become the CIOB’s 113th president and one of the few to have carried out work in both the consultancy and contracting sides of the sector. He replaces outgoing president Chris Chivers. In his first address to his colleagues, Mr Nash spoke about his desire to make ethics one of his core themes for the forthcoming year. He said that everyone in the CIOB must take responsibility for the industry’s reputation and for the wellbeing of those who work in it, regardless of the country we are working in. “Ethics defines what it means to be a professional. Behaving ethically entails tough decisions. And we have a responsibility to help our members make those right decisions,” he added. In the next year, the CIOB has said that it will release a simplified code of conduct that will outline what is expected of a member of the CIOB, while the CIOB Academy will develop new learning modules on governance and ethics. Paul Nash was a director of Sweett from 2004 to 2012 and was fined £1.4 million earlier in the year for bribery offences. Last month, the CIOB supported an industry drive for more military recruits by creating a clear route into membership for people with military experience. The move came after the group conducted a survey of more than 700 construction professionals, 77% of which said that ex-service personnel could help to plug the industry’s management skills gap. By 2020, the UK needs around 230,000 recruits and with 75% of UK contractors operating at or near to full capacity, skills shortages are no longer confined to the trades: demand for professional technical and managerial staff is escalating.

A collapsed wall has killed five workers at a recycling plant in Birmingham. The incident occurred at the Hawkeswood Metal Recycling site in Aston Church Road in Birmingham’s Nechells area. The wall, which comprised of concrete blocks that weighed around 1.5 tonnes each, was four metres high and when the structure gave way, the men were crushed, according to West Midlands Police Detective Superintendent, Mark Payne. At 8.43am on the morning of Thursday, July 7, the West Midlands Fire Service received a call for assistance from the West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) and reached the scene in less than five minutes. In a statement from the fire service, it stated: “On our arrival it was clear that a large concrete structure containing metal had collapsed, trapping a number of people. “Very sadly, five people were pronounced dead at the scene by a doctor. One other person who was seriously injured was taken to hospital by the ambulance service.” Cutting equipment and cranes were used to recover the bodies, while the Health & Safety Executive was also on the scene with a structural engineer. Gary Taylor, Assistant Chief Fire Officer at the West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) said that the incident is devastating for everyone involved, adding that their deepest sympathies and thoughts are with the families and colleagues of the victims. He added that once the police have concluded their first examinations of the scene, the priority of the fire service will be to make sure that the bodies of the victims are recovered in the safest and quickest possible way, along with the utmost respect and dignity. Mr Taylor also commented: “The scene is an extremely challenging one, involving significant tonnage of concrete and metal and a structure that is still unstable. We have an assertive recovery plan in place and expect this operation to take several hours.”

Horticultural company, William Sinclair Horticulture Limited, has been fined for two separate incidents that occurred at their sites in Lincoln and Ellesmere Port. The Ellesmere Port incident resulted in one of the firm’s workers sustaining serious injuries after he fell from a ladder that was not secured properly. Darren Taylor, aged 40, was working on a deep clean of conveyor belts on January 8, 2015, and used a ladder to remove guards for access but on his ascent the ladder moved and caused him to fall to the ground from a height of 1.75 metres. The investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company did not have a safe system of work or risk assessment in place for the work to be carried out, nor for the proper use of ladders. On the day of the incident, none of the other workers who were involved in cleaning the conveyor belts had received adequate training on how to use ladders safely. In February 2014, Bolton Magistrates’ Court heard that William Sinclair Horticulture Limited had previously received two formal warnings from the HSE that were was an issue on the site about work being carried out from an unsafe height, though the firm did not take the action that was required. The court was also told that William Sinclair Horticulture Limited did not listen to the HSE Inspector’s advice by not giving the necessary guarding on machinery at their site in Lincoln. After a proactive visit in January last year by the Inspector, the firm was served with an Improvement Notice to improve the guarding of the conveyors that fed products into the machinery. A further visit in March last year found that another Improvement Notice has been served relating to guarding on the sand line, while a third visit in June last year revealed that the company still had major issues with guarding of machinery, despite formal enforcement action taken previously.

Screwfix has launched a new guide to help tradespeople understand how easy it can be to hire apprentices, in conjunction with Jamie Hepburn, the Scottish Minister for Employability and Training. Earlier in the week, Hepburn visited the Edinburgh Screwfix store to launch the guide, entitled ‘Your Guide to Hiring an Apprentice’, which is a free booklet and available online as well as in Screwfix stores throughout Scotland. The national skills body, Skills Development Scotland, developed the booklet, and the group also contributed financially towards the cost of training apprentices. The booklet was released by Screwfix in conjunction with the Minister in response to a study that showed tradespeople want more skilled workers through encouraging apprenticeship schemes, along with guidance on how to take apprentices on. The free, easy to use information pack is intended to address a number of the myths associated with apprenticeships and given its small size, the guide will feature bite sized chunks of what employers need to know, from the benefits of apprenticeship schemes, to where they should go to find them. The guide was released by Screwfix in response to trade customer feedback, with a number of carpenters, builders, electricians, plumbers and other tradespeople who took part in the Screwfix poll having little or no experience of taking on apprentices, with just 14% having employed one in the last year. Screwfix Operations Director, Graham Bell, said that as a key trade supplier, the company is always looking at new ways to support tradespeople in growing their businesses, from making sure they get the right products at the right time, to addressing the key issues of the industry. He added: “We understand how vital apprentices are as the future lifeblood of the trade, but it’s clear from what our customers are telling us that more needs to be done to simplify the process of hiring one.”