RR921 - Research into Occupational Health …

1 Health and safety Executive Occupational Health provision on the Olympic Park and athletes' village Final report Prepared by the Institute for Employment Studies for, and jointly funded by, the Health and safety Executive and the Olympic Delivery Authority 2012. RR921 . Research Report Health and safety Executive Occupational Health provision on the Olympic Park and athletes' village Final report Claire Tyers BSc, MSc Ben Hicks BSc Institute for Employment Studies Sovereign House Church Street Brighton BN1 1UJ.

2 The construction of the Olympic Park and Athletes' Village was an enormous job, with the site extending over 500 acres of formerly mixed-use land, and involving an estimated 30,000 workers. In order to ensure that the Health of workers was protected throughout their time working on the project, a comprehensive, preventative Occupational Health service was established and offered to all contractors free of charge. This report examines the work of this service using a range of data from contractors, workers and the Occupational Health providers themselves.

3 The service provides an example of what good practice can look like in assisting contractors to both meet their legal obligations and also take a more informed and involved approach to workplace Health management. It was viewed as one of the best Occupational Health services that has been in operation on a major construction site to date in the UK. The report details examples of how the service worked, and what contractors and workers valued about it. This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and safety Executive (HSE) and the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA).

4 Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE or ODA policy. HSE Books ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Crown copyright 2012. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of a range First published 2012 of people involved in this Research . Firstly, we thank representatives of the Health and safety Executive (HSE), Sarah Chaker, Shila Patel and Simon Armitage, as well as You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of Lawrence Waterman of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA).

5 Charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the for their strategic support and guidance throughout the project. Open Government Licence. To view the licence visit , Members of the Park and Village Health teams have helped write to the Information Policy Team, The National us to understand the nature of the complex and extensive Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email psi@ service that they offered and provided us with timely and detailed data to allow analysis of their performance. Karen Baxter, Melodie Gilbert, Eric Ball and Stephanie Some images and illustrations may not be owned by the Martin-Halls, in particular, dealt with our evaluation demands Crown so cannot be reproduced without permission of the with good humour and a supportive approach, and for that copyright owner.

6 Enquiries should be sent to we are grateful. Karen Elson, Clare Ramsden and Ros Seal have also helped us during our work by providing support from within ODA, giving us access to the site and their data and helping us get to grips with the complex working This Research is part of a suite of Research projects and arrangements. Other members of staff at the Institute for independent evaluations undertaken on Health and safety Employment Studies (IES) have also helped with the on the London 2012 construction programme comprising: Research at various points, particularly Jenny Savage, Gill Brown, Stefan Speckesser and Sally Wilson.

7 Geoff Pike n Leadership and worker involvement. of Employment Research administered the on-site worker n Site communications and other Health and safety survey. In addition, Mike Evans shared his conclusions from Initiatives. a cost benefit assessment of the Occupational Health (OH). n CDM 2007 Regulations: duty holder roles and impact. provision on the construction of Terminal 5, adding greatly to n safety climate tool and measuring site culture. this element of the work. n Health and safety in the supply chain.

8 N Occupational Health programme provision on the Finally, we must thank all the people working on the Park Olympic Park and Athletes' Village. and Village who took time out of their working day to n Food safety and sustainability. contribute to the Research . We thank those managers who n Preconditioning for success. helped us set up case studies or took part in our telephone survey. We are grateful to the workers who kindly filled in our All the Research reports should be read in conjunction with questionnaires during their lunch breaks or talked to us when the paper below, which provides an overview of Health and we visited the site.

9 Without these contributions the Research safety on the London 2012 construction programme: would simply not have been possible. Everyone else who spent time talking to us has also made a valuable n Delivering Health and safety on the development of the contribution to the Research . London 2012 Olympic Park and Athletes' Village. Full Research reports for all projects will be published at a later date. ii CONTENTS. Abbreviations v Key Messages vi Executive Summary vii 1 Introduction 1. Introduction to the Olympic build 1.

10 Health and safety management on the site 3. Legal requirements 3. Details of the Research 4. Supporting data 5. 2 Health and safety on the Park and Village 6. ODA monitoring data 6. Management views on standards 6. Worker views 7. 3 The Park/Village Health Strategy and Service 10. Service aims 10. Details of the team 11. The Health like safety ' approach 11. Implementing the service 11. 4 Use of and Reactions to the Park/Village Health Service 14. Clinical services 14. Managers access to OH support 15. Reactions to the service 17.