Safe Home Every Day – at the heart of Careys for 15 years

The idea for SHED came when working on the venues for the London 2012 Olympics. Jason Carey’s insight while meeting with the other teams involved was that it is possible to stop accidents before they happen by proactively eliminating risks and hazards in every area of our work.

SHED is now firmly embedded in the Carey Group culture and our ways of working. At its heart is the message we communicate across the business that nothing we are ever asked to do is that important that we can’t take the time to do it safely. Every person on our sites should feel empowered to say no to unsafe activities and feel free to speak up when they see something that might impact the health and safety of themselves or colleagues.

Over the last 15 years, the SHED programme has driven a wide array of changes and improvements that have each contributed to making our work safer. We have continually looked to improve the communication of safety messages, including greater use of CGI illustrations of best practice to ensure language barriers do not prevent safe working.

SHED has also sought to tackle both the risks of immediate injury and long-term health issues. For example, in an effort to improve the safety of working at height, we eliminated the use of podium steps, replacing them with delta decks and mobile elevating work platforms (MEWP). Since this step was taken five years ago, there has not been one working at height accident when using access systems. To minimise the risk of long-term exposure to construction dust, a serious issue across the industry, we have implemented new ways of working and improved control measures.

Another key factor of SHED is that we always try to learn and improve. Where there has been an incident or near miss on site, we put the focus on the lessons to be learned to prevent the same happening again, rather than assigning blame. As part of the SHED programme, we have also endeavoured to recognise and reward people who have demonstrated the mindset and positive behaviours that have made Safe Home Every Day such a success over the years.

While we celebrate 15 years of this pioneering programme, we are also clear that the work must continue. Safe Home Every Day is something that needs to be upheld every day by every member of our team. Sadly, each year the industry experiences fatalities and injuries that could have been prevented with the right approach. We strongly believe that every person has the right to get home safely every day. We will do this by continuing on the same path and building on what we have already achieved.

Find out more about our commitment to health and safety here.