Retail refurbishment: fitting safety into shops
27 October 2011
This is a summary report of this networking
event, held on 22 September 2011 at Daventry.
We are grateful for the support of the National Association of
Shopfitters (NAS) who assisted in the preparation and publicity for
the event. Over 100 people attended, drawn from a wide
cross-section of those involved including retail clients,
contractors, shopping centre operators, advisers like CDM
Coordinators and also the HSE.
The organisers would like to thank all the participants for their
willingness to take full part and share their views and experience
in a constructive manner.
Although the national economy is in the doldrums retailers are
continuing to refurbish their stores to maintain them as inviting
and attractive places to shop. Doing this safely, involving
many trades and contractors whilst often continuing to trade, poses
substantial challenges for all the parties involved. We set
out to explore these challenges and look for sound ways of tackling
them.
The presentations are all linked from here; click on the
presenters' names to see their presentations.
Robert
Hudson, Chief Executive of the NAS, opened the meeting by
reviewing the challenges for all the parties involved and the
approach being taken by the NAS. This includes the aim of
having all work carried out by contractors and staff who are
qualified, competent and safe. Additionally, click here to download
the NAS DVD “Shopfitting Safely”.
The next presentation by David
Ackerley, Chair of IOSH Construction Group, drew on his
experience of CDM Coordinator work and focussed on planning and the
need to get the flow of information right.
We then had four presentations from
practitioners, each considering a different aspect of store
refurbishment activities:
Clive
Johnson of Land Securities covered the client's view.
Robert
Langley of Cathedral Interiors looked at the interface with
shopfitters from their perspective.
Dean
Dixon of Home Retail Group considered the challenges presented
by the need to maintain fire safety during refurbishment
works.
Mark
Rycraft of the Middleton Grange Centre in Hartlepool gave the
perspective of the shopping centre operator (we have not been able
to include some video clips in this download).
There were then lively round table
discussions. Every table was asked to consider “what do you
think is the most serious block to improving revamp safety? And, to
overcome it, what needs to be done and by whom? The summary
of the points made is given here.
We did not restrict the feedback to one point per table as there
seemed to be so many valid points to be made.
Martin
Johnson of Kuehne + Nagel then gave a wide-ranging presentation
on environmental considerations. He picked up another
aspect of planning, the new Site Waste Management Plan requirements
and how they apply to shopfitting and store refurbishment
activities. Martin drew attention to several useful internet
resources; the links are given below.
Finally, as “work in progress”
John
Lacey described the work of a working group considering the
risks and precautions for automatic powered gates. They are
widely used in places like store back yards and have been the cause
of recent fatal accidents.
Waste Management Links
The following links may be useful
for safety practitioners with responsibilities in Retail and
Distribution. By using these links, you will move to external
sites. IOSH and its Retail and Distribution Group are not
responsible for the content of external internet
sites.
Waste Contractor
Searches
Waste Directory
Lets
recycle
Environment
Agency
RIBA Handbook of Sustainable
Refurbishment
RIBA publishing
Hierarchy guidance
Waste Hierarchy
Advice on Site Waste Management
Plans
Netregs
Wrap