29-30 March 2010 | Hemel Hempsted, UK

This ENCORD CO2 and ‘Sustainability’ Workshop in Hemel Hempstead, 29 and 30 March 2010 secured agreement on the ENCORD CO2 measurement protocol, and members agreed to measure and report on emission blocks 1 to 7 for 2009 (where the data is available) and 2010, and that this would be taken back to the ENCORD council for adoption. I was also agreed to set a long term target on emission reductions once a baseline figure has been established. There was progress on measurement of waste and material CO2e emissions and presentations on CO2 reduction initiatives of some member companies.

The meeting also started to look at some of the wider issues regarding sustainability, including the measurement of waste, as well as investigating what other areas member companies were focussing on.

March 2010 | London, UK

18 people from 10 ENCORD member companies (plus SKANSKA) held a workshop in London, 9th March 2010 to evaluate the benefits that could be gained from using the ENCORD network for driving improvements in Health and Safety. The host was Dr. Rennie Chadwick, VINCI Construction UK.

Background
The construction workforce across EU countries totals approximately 20 million people – equivalent to the whole population of a medium sized country in the EU. Statistically, each construction worker entering the industry at 20 years of age and working for 20 years currently has a 100% chance of being injured by an accident at work (source: ENCORD Council members, meeting February 2009).
Most of the accidents or fatalities could be avoidable.

Scope of the Workshop
Each of the participants shared current performance data and initiatives.  A more detailed presentation of the Balfour Beatty initiative ‘Zero Harm’ was given by John Dunne.  Fred Garner and Terry Penketh of VINCI provided an insight to the VINCI health and safety management system and its application on the King’s Cross railroad station project, including many examples of how to implement the system in a challenging and large scale project. Read the rest of this entry »