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Women in Construction

Monday March 8th marked international women’s day. As the construction industry is a predominately male industry, we wanted to highlight the importance females in the Irish construction industry. Belinda O’Brien has worked for Sherlock Recruitment and is a passionate electrician who has worked in the construction industry for the past 14 years. We reached out to Belinda to talk to her about her experience as a woman in the industry. “I’m so fortunate to have found my passion in life and enjoy what I do. I have great variety in my job from the tasks to meeting new people and different locations. We need to encourage more women to take up apprenticeships. More than ever now, especially with the lack of apprentices in the trades, we need you.”

(Pictured above: Belinda O’Brien)

Studies have shown that women count less than 10% of the workforce is made up of women and just 1% of the workers on building sites. 70% of the construction companies in Ireland have recognized the need for more women in the industry. Last year the Construction Industry Federation launched a campaign to try and increase the presence of women on site. Ireland is currently battling a housing crisis and having more women decide to undertake a career in Communications Director with the CIF, Shane Dempsey admits that it is vital to find a way to do so, he says, “We really have a journey to travel to build equality in the construction industry and it’s imperative we do because we’ll need an additional 100,000 workers over the next three to four years to deliver on the commitments in the Governments housing strategy and in its infrastructure strategy. We need to be recruiting females and males into the industry, so we have to challenge a number of stereotypes.”

Hopefully Belinda’s story and international women’s day will have encouraged some women to pursue a career in construction industry.

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Raising Funds for Cúnamh Iveragh 

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Raising Funds for Cúnamh Iveragh 

 

Damian Murphy. One of Sherlock’s recruiters decided at the beginning of June to start a small fundraiser for Cúnamh Iveragh. 

https://www.facebook.com/respitehomeforadultswithspecialneeds/   

Cúnamh Iveragh is set in South West Kerry and it supports children and young adults with special intellectual needs. It is made up of parents and friends of these special people and grown through the years. It provides many facilities and supports which have made life easier for them and their families. Cúnamh’s primary aim is to keep these facilities in our local area as we feel that our children should have the choice of living locally if they so desire.

Cúnamh Iveragh lost out on massive funding in 2020 without the Ring of Kerry Cycle Race and as it stands they have nowhere to facilitate people over the age of 18 with intellectual disabilities in South Kerry. At present this group is in the process of fundraising for an extension to the existing facility. To date, they have raised €230,000 and require €450,000. 

For this fundraiser, Damian’s plan was to virtually walk from his house in Celbridge to his family home in Portmagee, Kerry (333km) during the month of June. 

Arron Sherlock and the team of Sherlock Recruitment, recognising how important this cause is to Damian and also how important the need is, wanted to help. Arron decided that Sherlock will contribute all the profits from all the Manual Handling Certifications booked through the month of June and these would go directly to Damian’s GoFundMe Campaign.  

Fast Forward a month and Sherlock Recruitment and training were able to donate over €1000 to the cause and Damian himself has raised over €6000 to contribute.  We are very proud to be a part of this fundraiser and always try to support the endeavors of our employees.  

If you want to make your own direct contribution to the cause or would like to follow Damian’s efforts here is the link to his GoFundMe Page:  

https://www.gofundme.com/f/cunamh-iveragh-virtually-walking-home 

 

 

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Construction Safety Partners

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Sherlock is proud to be listed among the best of the best, promoting safety in construction.

Here at Sherlock we are 100% behind  CIF’s initiative and are promoting construction Safety for the entire month of October.

As part of Safety Month Sherlock is giving free risk and safety certification audits. Endeavouring to make sure you and your staff are as safe and as well trained as possible. Sherlock will join you onsite or at your office to assess your current situation and identify any potential risk areas to your business or site, do a needs assessment and a solutions plan. We will then project manage any training or upskilling needed to minimise the impact on your productivity.

Safety Week is a CIF initiative to drive awareness of safety on site.

MANY ROLES – ONE VISION – WORKING SAFELY TOGETHER

The management and awareness of safety and health issues have progressed enormously in the construction sector in the past 18 years. Employers and workers have invested time and money to drive improvements, endeavouring to ensure all workers can work safely on construction projects in Ireland.

As an example of this commitment, up to 90,000 workers, a year complete the Safe Pass Programme alone –  no other industry sector in Ireland can compare with this level of focus.

The construction sector is making a strong economic recovery and the numbers employed are increasing from 98,000 in 2012 to over 133,000 in 2017 – this is expected to rise to nearly 190,000 directly employed in the next 3 – 4 years.

Now is the time to reflect on how safety and health issues are managed and how can we improve on what we do?

Construction Safety Week is an opportunity to take stock of safety procedures and work together to drive home the positive safety message.

Construction Safety Week 2018 – Mission

Our collective mission for Construction Safety Week 2018 is to partner together to;

  • Reduce accidents on construction sites in Ireland
  • Increase awareness of the importance of being committed to safety & health…every day
  • Inspiring all of us to share best practices and to work together to strengthen our industry’s safety culture
  • Celebrating the safety achievements to date

 

Construction Safety Week

Safety Week Partners

 

Talk to us about safety training and getting your Manual Handling and other certifications updated- https://www.sherlockrecruitment.com/training

 

 

 

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Construction Safety Week – Awareness

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At the beginning of the week, construction workers across Ireland set down their tools for one minute to take a moment to think about the importance of construction safety both on and off site. This marked the beginning of Construction Safety Week 2017, an initiative of the Construction Safety Partnership Advisory Committee (CSPAC).

Construction Safety

The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness about site safety. This is being done with particular attention on smaller contractors who are operating in the industry. Several events have taken place across the country with each day focusing on different aspects of safety such as working at heights, with machinery and occupational health.

This year in order to get the campaign running, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) released the latest statistics on all onsite and offsite related accidents. This was to raise awareness on the potential risks associated with working in construction and to emphasise importance of safety training across the board.

Currently in Ireland, there is already a major emphasis on the importance of safety training and effective safety management. However despite this, efforts of promoting and celebrating safety in the industry have not depleted. This can be shown in recent statistics which highlight a decrease of 43% of fatal accidents in the construction industry since 2004. The idea of this is to focus on prevention by providing sufficient training to all workers both new and old.

It is clear from the statistics that more emphasis in training needs to be placed on small contractors and self-employed workers as these have recorded the most number of accidents. However it is believed that some reasons for this may include these workers being less safety conscious, having less supervision and they may be more willing to take risks on heights, in machinery etc.

The reported statistics show that the leading causes of fatal accidents are from falls and loss of control of equipment. The most common cause of non-fatal accidents are slips/falls and lifting/carrying. Precautions need to be implemented in order to prevent further accidents such as these. In the case of preventing accidents whilst working at heights, the work must be organised and carried out safely with suitable equipment in place to prevent falls such as guard rails. Workers should also be advised on all the potential risks on site and how best to handle them.

In order to raise awareness and assist in the reduction of accidents on construction sites across Ireland all companies should be encouraged to commit to safety and health in the workplace. This can be achieved by committing to monitoring and updating safety standards onsite and offsite to ensure maximum protection and safety of their employees.

Sherlock Recruitment, as one of the leading construction recruitment agencies, recognises the importance of promoting adequate safety in the construction industry and keeping standards high among all employers in the industry. This is why we work directly with companies nationwide who want to provide the correct safety training to their employees at a discounted rate. For more information, call 01 456 8438 or email admin@sherlockrecruitment.com.

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World Green Building Week – Net Zero Buildings

As this week is World Green Building Week, we feel it is important to discuss the concept of Net Zero Carbon Buildings and the World Green Building Council’s ambitious aim to achieve 100% Net Zero Buildings by 2050. The campaign for zero carbon emission buildings has accelerated in recent years as the impact of climate change has become more prevalent throughout the world. The objective behind this has become more feasible with advances in construction technologies and renewable energy.

What are Net Zero Buildings?

A net zero building is a highly energy efficient building that has zero net energy consumption. This means that the total amount of annual carbon emissions of a building is offset by the amount of carbon-free renewable energy that is produced on-site or nearby.

What is ‘World Green Building Week’?

It is an annual global event that encourages the green building community to deliver green buildings everywhere. This year the focus of the campaign is to make all buildings, both new and existing, net zero by 2050. The #OurHeroIsZero campaign is led by the WGBC and its network of more than 70 Green Building Councils and their 32,000 member companies.

Buildings account for over a third of global carbon emissions. So, there is an emphasis on Net Zero Building becoming standard building practice in the coming years. This is to reduce the amount of carbon emissions from buildings by using highly efficient and clean energy such as solar or wind energy that may be generated on-site or close-by. The aim of this campaign is to have all new buildings operating at net zero carbon from 2030 and the renovations of existing buildings completed to a net zero standard by 2050 so that all buildings will operate with net zero carbon emissions.

As of yet, there are no set metrics for ‘net zero energy’ buildings however, here are some of the main steps that can be taken to achieve net zero standard:

  • Generate renewable energy on-site or procure it from a nearby source.
  • Assess buildings emissions and take required steps to reduce them.
  • Minimize energy requirements with exemplary design.

Get Involved This Week

The Irish Green Building Council has many opportunities that will help you to join the Green Building Week Campaign. Some options include:

  • Inviting a Green Building Expert to give a talk.
  • Host an #OurHeroIsZero event, conference, webinar, tour or net zero building open house event.
  • Join the conversation on Social Media using #OurHeroIsZero.

Some events include:

The zero net energy consumption principle promotes the reduction of carbon emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. Here at Sherlock Recruitment, we support this 100%.

Remember #OurHeroIsZero!

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