A child’s recorded safety messages prove to be poignant workforce reminders for Kier Construction London

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A voice-activated turnstile, featuring safety messages spoken by a child, is proving an effective way of reminding Kier Construction London site personnel to be safe.

Kier’s project – The Charter School, East Dulwich – included a turnstile programmed with nine different safety messages which are played every time the entrance is used by supply chain workers and Kier managers.

One of the voices is that of a young boy called Harry who attends a local nursery and has taken a keen interest in the construction site on his way to school, often stopping off with his dad to watch the construction plant machinery in action.

Kier Construction Project Manager, Gary Long said:

“Harry’s father Paul takes him to nursery every Tuesday and Thursday and they often pop into the site compound so Harry can watch the ground worker’s digger working.

“The feedback from our site team is that Harry’s voice adds strength to the safety message making people think about how an incident or accident would impact on their own family and loved ones.”

The voice reminders are:

• Do you have all your PPE?

• Have you received your daily task briefing?

• Safety is our number one priority

• Don’t walk by

• Ensure you work safely

• Have you inspected your tools?

• Have you read your safe system of work?

• Report any unsafe acts or conditions

• A clean site is a happy site

Gary added:

“We have received positive feedback from our workforce who have commented that the announcements are a great way to get a safety message across and make people think about working safely before commencing a site activity.”

Commending the innovation which resulted in a score of 10 out of 10 for safety, the Scheme Monitor said:

“Many of the operatives have commented that this has made them think about their own families and the need to arrive home safely every day.”

Kier Construction’s The Charter School project is the construction of a new four-storey secondary school on a former hospital site in East Dulwich. The new buildings are being constructed around some of the original buildings which are being retained and the project is due for completion in November 2018.