Buro Happold is celebrating ‘World Day for Health and Safety 2023’

This year’s theme for the International Labor Organisation’s World Day for Health and Safety is: ‘A safe and healthy working environment is a fundamental principle and right at work’.

As we continue to live through a global health crisis and face ongoing OSH (Occupational Safety and Health) risks in the world of work, we must continue to move towards building a strong safety and health culture at all levels.

To enhance our safety culture at Buro Happold, we are growing our team to better support and enable our colleagues across the globe. The core H&S team is based in our UK Bath office; however, there are Partner sponsors in all our regions who support the local H&S teams.

Roles within health and safety vary greatly from day to day, something the team embraces. Whether assisting project teams, conducting DSE assessments, or partnering with a Managing Director for on-site safety tours, the team has a wealth of experience and knowledge within the group.

Prompted by sustainable priorities, the business is focussing more on re-use and re-purposing buildings, this brings different risks to our employees and our designs compared to a traditional construction site. Our approach is not to say no or put up too much red tape, but to instead work with our employees to agree on a safe method or solution that doesn’t cause harm. Our H&S team always ensures that our global teams have the latest information and training. They visit our employees across the globe to provide toolbox talks and specific H&S training.

Working across many regions and jurisdictions, our teams monitor for any changes that may impact the health and safety of our employees and projects. Our future strategy is to use AI and data analytics to forecast health and safety risks, provide insights and solutions to ensure a high-quality H&S offering, and link H&S planning to business planning.

Well-being is a big focus for us. At Buro Happold we value human well-being and are discontented with limitations; we commit to taking this as seriously for our people as our projects.

We don’t just focus on safety but also our employee’s health. Over the last few years, we have ensured that everyone sees the importance of looking after their mental and physical health. Traditionally, risk assessments have been put together to stop people from injuring themselves or others physically. However, we must shift our focus so the same thought process happens to ensure we are not harming our own or other people’s mental health. Good work design supports this right by fostering a safe and healthy physical and psychosocial environment for workers.

Following the ILO’s framework of fundamental principles and rights at work, good work design supports this right by fostering a safe and healthy physical and psychosocial environment for workers. We must pay attention to how work is performed, the task duration, frequency, and complexity, as well as our workers’ needs, preferences, and capacities. Additionally, we need to consider the physical environment that our employees work in and what systems and processes are in place to carry out the work.

In the UK, we have embarked on an exciting new opportunity. We now have a dedicated H&S Consultant and Principal Designer. This service offering ensures project compliance with health and safety legislation, capturing and sharing knowledge across projects, enhancing our culture of innovation, and reinforcing our recognised reputation as a preferred service provider. Working on projects such as Canning Town, Boston Spa and Dyson, we support our clients with their roles and responsibilities under CDM Regulations. Working closely with clients to build a pre-tender document that includes their requirements is critical to starting a project with clear boundaries.

Encouraging designers and contractors to engage on the importance of H&S throughout each project’s duration is considered time-consuming and difficult. At Buro Happold, we build upon contractors’ and designers’ experience as we progress across each stage of the construction plan bringing value, safety, and quality.

Meet the team