Nattasha Freeman, head of health & safety at property consultancy GBR Phoenix Beard, will provide an overview of key developments in the regulation of health & safety in construction as part of a British Safety Council half-day conference in Manchester on 26 February.

The conference will focus on the latest important developments in UK health & safety legislation, practice and enforcement.

Aimed at employers, directors and managers in businesses of all types, sizes and sectors, the conference will shine a light on some of the major workplace risks employers have to manage and seek to improve employers’ knowledge about how best to go about meeting this challenge.

The conference takes place from 8.15am to midday at the Midland Hotel in Manchester. Speakers are from the Health & Safety Executive, Manchester-based law practice Osborn Abbas Hunt and St John Ambulance.

The conference is being held in the light of the Government’s continuing efforts to simplify the UK’s legal framework for health & safety that coincide with the introduction of fees for intervention and still rising fines for those businesses which fail to meet their health & safety duties.

The speakers


Lee Hughes, regulatory lawyer at Osborn Abas Hunt, will explain how an apparent trend to prosecute company directors and managers when taking corporate manslaughter charges against a business highlights the risk of employers failing to ensure adequate health and safety standards at work.

Peter Savage, chief operations officer at St John Ambulance, will explain how, following changes in the law in October, employers must now carry out their own checks on the competence of first aid training providers rather than relying on a previous system of approved trainers run by the Health & Safety Executive.

Paul Cook from the Health & Safety Executive will explain how new guidance on managing health & safety provides an effective framework for identifying, assessing and controlling common risks, thereby protecting employees and others from the risk of injury and ill health.

Nattasha Freeman, head of health & safety at property consultancy GBR Phoenix Beard, will provide an overview of key developments in the regulation of health & safety in construction. Nattasha is a past President of the Institution of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH ­ the membership body for health & safety professionals). She will focus on recent changes to the legal controls on work with asbestos affecting the construction and refurbishment sectors, and government plans to simplify the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007, which place health & safety duties on all parties involved in major construction work. She will also draw on her extensive experience as a construction health & safety professional to outline ways of managing the risks from fire in large, occupied buildings.

Gary Jewkes and Tony Murphy from Ellesmere Port-based legionella management specialist Wrights Services UK Ltd will explain their experiences of controlling exposure to the potentially dangerous bacteria at a complex industrial site.

The conference also provides an opportunity to gain continuing professional development (CPD) credits for IOSH and International Institute of Risk & Safety Management (IIRSM) CPD schemes.

How to book


Attending the conference costs £115 + VAT (£90 for British Safety Council members).

You can book online at www.britsafe.org/keepup, ’phone 0208 741 1231, or email customer.service@britsafe.org