CSCS Smart Check is an app that can be used to check CSCS cards on-site to make sure the operatives are who they say they are and have the qualifications you require for any particular job.

The app is free from the App Store and Google Play. It gives users a simple way of checking all CSCS partner scheme cards in one place as people enter a site.

Rather than separate apps, web portals and call centres for different CSCS cards, CSCS Smart Check means almost all* the 2.1million CSCS cards issued can be accessed on a phone.

The app has been developed by the 38 card schemes displaying the CSCS logo to radically improve the construction industry’s card checking procedures and site safety, while also helping tackle fraud and modern slavery in the sector.

Organisations and their on-site card checkers now have a quick, easy and secure way of ensuring everyone on site has the right qualifications and training for the job they do.

There are three ways to check a card using CSCS Smart Check: Contactless; using the QR codes on the cards; performing a manual check. The video below gives a brief demonstration of the app.

You can find the CSCS Smart Check app support page here on the CSCS website.

Answers to the most common queries around CSCS Smart Check can be found on the FAQs here. 

CSCS has also worked with Build UK to produce guidance that can be downloaded and used on site. Download it for free here.

*The following schemes will be going live on the app at a later date:

• IPAF. These cards cards can currently only be checked on the app using the Manual Input or QR code options.
• CSWIP. To check these cards call 01223 899 000
• LEEA. To check these cards, visit the LEEA website

Please note: This app is NOT for individuals to use to store details of their cards. That can be done using the MyCSCS app and MyECS.

Watch the video below for a quick overview of the app.

Gordon Somerville started working in construction at the age of 15 and spent his life as a builder and stonemason, eventually running his own masonry company. Today he is 61 and housebound, a victim of exposure to respirable crystalline silica dust.

The extent of the damage the dust had caused him became apparent in 2014, when he collapsed on the scaffold at work.

Following tests, the true severity of the damage years of dust exposure had caused became clear. He was suffering from various systemic diseases.

The first signs that there was anything wrong came in the early 1990s when he had to have his dust-blocked sinuses scraped. He says: “This was the first time I was informed abnormalities had shown up in my lung X-rays.”

He was also suffering from the effects of exposure to vibration as a result of using power tools and in 2000 had operations for carpal and cubital tunnel syndrome and was diagnosed with hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS). “Despite all this, I still felt reasonably fit,” he says.

His collapse on the scaffold in 2014 graphically illustrated that he was not as fit as he thought he was and in 2015 he was diagnosed with life threatening diseases linked to his exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS), dust produced when high silica content stone such as sandstone, slate and granite, as well as engineered quartz and concrete, are cut.

In order to highlight the dangers of working with RCS and to improve awareness and education, Gordon agreed to talk to Trolex, the British manufacturer of health & safety products that last year launched the Air XS Silica Monitor, which uses lasers to provide instant measurements of the level of RCS in the air. Trolex claim it is the first detector to be able to do this.

Gordon Somerville told Trolex: “I am a stonemason and builder by trade and began working in the construction industry when I left school in 1976. No matter what type of work I was carrying out or who I was working for, daily dust was involved and lots of it. I didn’t realise dust was making me ill but during my career there were clues which should have raised a red flag."

Trolex asked him: What would your reaction have been if you’d had an Air XS device on your site, telling you that you were exposed to excessive levels of RCS? Would this knowledge have made any difference to your work life?

Gordon Somerville: “A measurement device in any enclosed environment, such as a banker shed or a stone cutting yard, is a perfect example of where monitoring equipment could prevent so many illnesses by providing real time air quality information.”

Gordon says he, like many workers, was told that working in the open air was safe because the dust would be removed by the breeze, so they believed they did not need masks or dust extraction systems. “During the ’80s and ’90s dust was only considered a nuisance, almost no-one wore a respirator,” says Gordon.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) estimates there are as many as 600,000 workers a year exposed to silica in the UK and some 12,000 deaths resulting from lung diseases linked to past exposures of all kinds at work. Silica illness from RCS is said to be second only to asbestos. However, in 2013 the UK government removed silicosis from the list of notifiable diseases under RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases & Dangerous Occurrences Regulations), making it hard to track and assess the actual extent of the problem nationally and more difficult to link a case to an employer.

If an employer’s negligence can be shown to have resulted in a case of silicosis the sufferer is entitled to claim compensation, which can be a considerable sum.

As Gordon says: “The major cause of many occupational diseases is ignorance – a lack of awareness or basic information. I would suggest that not knowing how much dust is in the air at any given moment in time is a serious lack of essential information and any enclosed area where dust is created should be monitored and recorded by law.”

Trolex: If you could change anything about the approach and attitudes you and others had towards particulate safety, what would it be? For example, what measures in dust reduction would you like to see introduced?

Gordon: “I think education on all matters concerning dust is very important and there should be a requirement for any employee on entering a dusty occupation to know the dangers.

“To this day there is a severe lack of awareness of the dangers of dust and the diseases it can cause, not only throughout the workforce but also within the medical profession. In my experience, many GPs have never heard of half the diseases dust can cause, never mind of their connection with dust exposure.

“If the workforce understands the danger, knows what they are protecting themselves and others against and understand the reasons for complying with dust controls, then there is a much greater probability that they will at least attempt to reduce their dust production. The unaware cannot protect themselves from the unknown.”

Trolex: What is your life like now, and how much has silicosis affected you?

Gordon: “If you let dust get anywhere into your body it can cause all kinds of totally unexpected chaos. I can assure you, no-one ever mentioned any of this to me. I was always a very fit and active person and was rarely found inside the house. Today, I’m housebound.

“But it’s the pain that’s worst of all, something that I suffer from constantly and all over. Dusty diseases do not usually come in ones, as they are systemic diseases. If you only end up suffering from one, you can consider yourself lucky.

“There are lots of conditions no-one ever mentioned were associated with exposure to crystalline silica dust. I was recently diagnosed with liver disease, as well as dust causing inflammation in my brain…

“All the diseases currently affecting me were 100% preventable.

“The only cure for dusty diseases at the moment is not to let dust get inside the body, which means in order for silica induced diseases to be classed as 100% preventable, awareness of the hazard throughout the exposed population is required.

“Unfortunately, most of this information is not generally available to the exposed workforce. The warnings about RCS should include all the diseases associated with exposure to RCS dust; all the diseases that seem to be ignored and are classed as rare but seem to be rather common among dusty workers.

“I believe silicosis should be returned to the reportable diseases list along with the addition of all the other diseases known to be associated with dust. No-one knows how many workers actually get sick in this country as figures for these diseases are only guesstimated. Many are not even included.

“Apart from making the population aware of all the dangers associated with dust and teaching the workforce how to safely suppress and control emissions, the only other options are to ban dust production completely or go down the lines of other countries and restrict all work that produces dust to trained licence holders.

“I would suggest education is simpler.”

Trolex: Silica is the biggest risk to construction workers after asbestos from the inhalation of dust particulates in the workplace. Yet silicosis is entirely preventable and the Air XS Silica Monitor is set to revolutionise worker safety within the construction industry by delivering real-time detection of dangerous respirable crystalline silica (RCS) particulates in airborne dust mixtures on the job.

The Air XS Silica Monitor can distinguish the presence of RCS within dust mixtures and displays the presence of RCS mass by volume. In addition, the Air XS Silica Monitor can track changing concentrations of RCS content over time, letting workers know if the amount of RCS in their workspace is increasing as they work and when it has risen to dangerous levels.

Glyn Pierce-Jones, Trolex CEO, says: “This is an exciting product in real time silica dust monitoring. The Air XS is a global-leading solution to an increasing health problem in many industries. Real time silica monitoring is the safest and most cost-effective way to promote workers’ health in the industries associated with RCS.

“The Air XS will substantially reduce the number of surveys needed onsite, improve processes, create smart ventilation and extraction systems and identify inefficiencies.”

"The tragedy is that silicosis is entirely preventable and yet it still affects hundreds of workers every year."

The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Respiratory Health has published an up-date of its 2020 report on silicosis. The report was originally called Silica – The Next Asbestos?, but the update is, less dramatically, entitled Improving Silicosis Outcomes in the UK.

The up-date follows the APPG's review of its original report last year, which was a result, it said, of new evidence from industry. Industry was also invited to comment for the review (read last year's call for comments here...).

The original APPG group report was 40 pages long. The revision has reduced that to 29 pages, which can be downloaded here or by clicking on the link at the bottom of this report.

As a result, the new report contains less about Australia's findings and actions on silicosis, many of which relate to concerns about engineered quartz. Some manufacturers of engineered quartz have reduced the level of crystalline silica in their products and wet cutting and dust extraction helps suppress dust, although it does not eliminate respirable crystalline silica altogether.

The report still says those working in worktop manufacturing are at particular risk, along with others in the stone industry (those working sandstone are highlighted), those involved in mining and quarrying, and those involved in construction and demolition.

The report also still references the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) estimation that 600,000 workers are exposed to silica in the UK each year and that silica is “the biggest risk to construction workers after asbestos”. It references the NHS as estimating there are 2,000-4,000 new cases of interstitial lung disease (ILD) diagnosed each year, of which a proportion will be due to silicosis.

ILD is a group of 100 or so chronic lung disorders that cause inflammation and scarring, making it hard to breath because the lungs struggle to get enough oxygen.

The report says the actual level of silicosis is difficult to pin down, not least because in 2013 the UK government removed silicosis from the list of notifiable diseases. As well as being almost impossible to track and assess the actual extent of the problem it is also harder to link exposure to RCS resulting in silicosis to any particular employer.

Jim Shannon MP, Chair of the APPG, says: "Silicosis is rarely the recorded reason for death but it causes significant co-morbidities – it increases the likelihood of developing other health issues such as tuberculosis, chest infections, heart failure, arthritis, kidney disease, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer."

The APPG recommends in its up-dated report that silicosis should once again be included as a notifiable disease in the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010, making silicosis notifiable through Public Health England. However, it has removed a recommendation in its original report that it should also be notifiable through RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases & Dangerous Occurrences Regulations), which would require firms to report cases among employees and make claims for compensation easier. Lobbying by the insurance industry might have influenced the RIDDOR exclusion. 

The report includes a comment from Stone Federation Great Britain that it felt the COSHH regulations worked well. The report says: "The Federation reminded us that COSHH requires control to be in line with the principles of good practice and exposure needs to be controlled to a level that is proportionate to the health risks and 'in any case to below the WEL'."

WEL is the workplace exposure limit. In the UK it is 0.1mg/m3, which is higher than in many other comparable countries. In Australia, the USA, Finland, Ireland, Italy and Portugal it is half the UK level and in Canada it is half that again. In the Netherlands the WEL is 0.075mg/m3, although in Poland the limit is three times higher than in the UK. The APPG recommends that the HSE should assess and determine the data and technology needed to allow the UK to reduce its WEL to 0.05mg/m3.

Gordon Sommerville, a stonemason who has also spoken to Trolex, the makers of a real-time silica monitor, about the various lung diseases he suffers as a result of exposure to dust (read more from Gordon Sommerville here...), is mentioned in the report. It says Gordon, "a silicosis sufferer following a long career in a silica-based industry, in a very moving and personal submission, asked that the government acknowledges these other co-morbidities and that the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) include these diseases on their compensable occupational diseases list". In other words, any lung disease caused by dust in the workplace should result in the sufferer receiving compensation.

The Trolex Air XS monitor that specifically identifies levels of RCS in the air in real time gets a significant mention in the new report. It was launched last year and consequently was not mentioned at all in the 2020 report. During 2022 the Air XS collected five awards for its innovative use of laser to identify the distinctive signature of RCS and measure its concentration in the air in real time. The APPG recommends it be adopted by industry.  

All the recommendations from the APPG to Parliament are that:

Clinical

• silicosis is included as a notifiable disease in the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010
• any notification of previous RCS exposure is accessible within secondary care, specifically on presentation at the lung health checks and the community diagnostic centres
• occupational health services are introduced into GP surgeries to allow for occupational histories to be taken where RCS work-related ill health is suspected
• patient records should record if a person has been subject to health surveillance due to exposure to silicosis, and occupational health providers undertaking surveillance should be required to notify the GP
• where health surveillance has been discontinued because of change of employment, a flag should be available for primary care staff at health check ups and appointments as a possible symptoms referral trigger for further investigation for silicosis

Regulatory

• the Department for Education considers the inclusion of silica related risk as a compulsory syllabus item for all building and construction modules in government funded apprenticeship schemes and further education courses
• the HSE undertakes an industry awareness campaign on the dangers of respirable crystalline silica in order to improve compliance with the existing Work Exposure Limits (WEL)
• the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) assesses and determines the data and technology needed to allow the UK to reduce the WEL for work with silica to 0.05mg/m3
• the HSE takes active steps to look into real time monitoring systems as a matter of some urgency, to determine and share the data sets that they deem to be necessary to take this forward and liaise with industry to speed the process and introduction of real time monitoring systems
• the HSE actively considers and consults with industry on the position of real time monitoring to complement the hierarchy of control.

The government has announced how it will continue to help businesses when the current relief for energy bills comes to an end on 31 March. The new scheme gives eligible UK businesses a discount on high energy bills until 31 March 2024.

The new Energy Bills Discount Scheme is less generous than the current winter scheme and commits the government to spending less on the support it provides while still offering businesses some security.

For eligible non-domestic customers who have a contract with a licensed energy supplier, the government is announcing the following support:

• From 1 April, all eligible non-domestic customers will see a unit discount of up to £6.97/MWh automatically applied to their gas bill and a unit discount of up to £19.61/MWh applied to their electricity bill.
• This will be subject to a wholesale price threshold of £107/MWh for gas and £302/MWh for electricity. This means that businesses with energy costs below this level will not receive support.
• You do not need to apply for a discount, it will, as with the current scheme, automatically be applied to bills.

Announcing the scheme today (9 January), Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “My top priority is tackling the rising cost of living – something that both families and businesses are struggling with. That means taking difficult decisions to bring down inflation while giving as much support to families and business as we are able.

“Wholesale energy prices are falling and have now gone back to levels just before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. But to provide reassurance against the risk of prices rising again we are launching the new Energy Bills Discount Scheme, giving businesses the certainty they need to plan ahead.

“Even though prices are falling, I am concerned this is not being passed on to businesses, so I’ve written to Ofgem asking for an update on whether further action is needed to make sure the market is working for businesses.”

You can read more from the government about the scheme here.

Some quarries and major construction companies might qualify for the intensive industries scheme, which is different from that mentioned above and has to be applied for. You can find out more about that here.

The maximum discounts and price thresholds for these larger users are:

• electricity – £89/MWh with a price threshold of £185/MWh
• gas – £40/MWh with a price threshold of £99/MWh

Anyone involved in the heritage sector is invited to join in this year’s Heritage Treasures Day on Wednesday 11 January to celebrate all that is wonderful about the UK’s heritage.

Heritage Treasures Day is a moment to share and celebrate inspiring projects and highlight rich and diverse heritage across the UK. Launched by The National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2017, it has grown each year. Last year it trended at second place on Twitter. Can it make first place this year?

You can take part by using the hashtag #HeritageTreasures and tagging @HeritageFundUK.

The Heritage Fund is encouraging people to post pictures and information about inspiring projects, winter walks in much-loved parks, gargoyles and other stonework on churches, favourite museums, stories about local characters… Anything, in fact, to do with heritage. Even if it is just that you have enjoyed reading about something, or have worked with people who have been absolute treasures?

To mark the day, the Heritage Fund is also offering heritage virtual backgrounds for computer screen savers and video calls that you can download. They feature projects that the Fund has supported with National Lottery funds, including Leighton House, Pembroke Heritage Centre, Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, Gainsborough House, The Flow Country, Canterbury Cathedral, and Hillsborough Castle.

Find out more here.

Since The National Lottery began in 1994, National Lottery players have raised over £43billion for projects and more than 635,000 grants have been awarded across the UK.

For the love of God, please do something…

That’s the plea from Michael Poultney, the Managing Director of Portland limestone mining company Albion Stone, to his constituency MP.

What he wants something done about is geographic indications (GIs) for craft and industrial goods.

The European Union (and other parts of the world) use GIs to prevent manufacturers from outside a geographical area claiming their products come from that area in order to benefit from its reputation for the production of certain goods. Melton Mowbray Pork Pies are protected by this legislation, as is Champagne.

So far, in the UK and Europe that protection has been restricted to food and wine, but for many years (going back to before Brexit) the EU has been discussing extending GIs to include products other than food and wine.

The EU’s most recent study of GIs was published in 2020. It found that, on average, they doubled the value of a product when compared with similar products without certification. The study put an estimated annual sales value of GI-protected products at €74.76billion, with more than 20% coming from exports outside the European Union. In March 2022, 3,458 place-named products were registered. You can see them all here.

Extending GIs to non-food and drink products in Europe has been a tortuously slow process (and it is not concluded yet). It was being discussed at the turn of the millennium but gained momentum in 2014 when the EU opened a public consultation on the subject. That was, of course, before the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Stone Federation, the Minerals Products Association and English Stone Forum joined other organisations in Europe, including the pan-European EuroRoc of which Stone Federation GB is a member, as well as individual quarry operators and Natural Stone Specialist magazine in contributing to the public consultation by making the case for protecting the geographical names of stones such as Portland, Bath and Cotswold in the UK and many others across Europe. (You can read reports from the time here.)

As a producer of Portland limestone, which very specifically comes from the Dorset island of Portland, Michael Poultney was always a keen advocate of GIs and remains so.

The point of GIs is to protect the reputations of identifiable geographical areas for the production of specific products – in this case, stone – especially against products imported from other parts of the world. So, for example, a stone from India could not be called Portland stone.

With the extension of GIs in the EU to non-food and wine products starting to look imminent, Michael Poultney wrote, via his constituency MP, to George Freeman, Minister for Science, Research & Innovation, in August last year asking for the UK to adopt non-food GIs.

With the various ousting of Prime Ministers and Chancellors last year, and the subsequent frequent re-shuffling of ministerial jobs, the reply from the Minister, via the Member of Parliament for South Dorset constituency, Richard Drax, did not reach Michael Poultney until December.

When it did, it elicited the response from Michael at the top of this article. He says it "displays a breathtaking lack of understanding about the issues".

You can read the full reply from the Minister in the PDF below. It includes this sentence: “ln the absence of evidence showing any deficiencies in the current system, the UK's policy position remains to utilise trade marks.”

In Europe there were MEPs who also argued that trade marks were sufficient to protect products, but most concluded that GIs are better protectors of geographical intellectual rights, not least because a trade mark cannot be used to stop others using a place name. If they could, everywhere would be trade-marked and nobody would be able to use place names.

As Michael put it in his response to the office of his constituency MP: “Putting it really simply… you cannot get a trade mark on Portland Stone. We need the GI legislation that the EU are completing otherwise the UK will become a dumping ground for cheap and dangerous fakes.”

He has the backing for his cause of the Mineral Products Association (MPA), which has a dimension stone product group to which many of the leading UK producers, including Albion Stone, belong.

Jon Pritchard, Chief Executive of the Mineral Products Association, told NSS: “The Mineral Products Association understands the concerns this issue raises for natural stone producers in the UK and intends to take this up with the relevant government department to ensure that the interests of all our member companies are properly understood and appropriately protected.”

North American-based international stone company Polycor, which supplies stone to the UK largely from its French limestone quarries, has contributed to America’s first industry-wide Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for natural stone in the Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog.

Transparency documentation provides design teams with data to help them understand the carbon impacts of their projects.

Polycor is one of 18 of America’s Natural Stone Institute (NSI) members who participated by contributing lifecycle data.

Polycor has pledged to become carbon neutral by the end of 2025 (read more about that here) and says: “We are committed to making product transparency understandable and meaningful to assist with making greener and healthier decisions. It is the key to providing our customers with informed choices about our products and helping them understand our company's ethics."

With increasing awareness of the environmental impact of building and construction materials and the demand for transparency, EPDs are increasingly becoming a requirement for public and private procurement.

transparencycatalog.com