Government is looking at what current legislation is available to them to ensure that products are correctly installed and appropriately used.

This will undoubtedly call in current relationships between suppliers and installers and reflects Dame Judith Hackitt’s call for a Golden thread of information, more collaboration and greater emphasis on Competency.

This technical note taken from a recent longer read in SpecFinish provides an example where an installer was prosecuted.

Magnesium Oxide building boards (MgO)

NHBC has recently updated its website regarding the use of MgO boards in essence they will not accept MgO building boards on buildings where the foundations are begun on or after 30 April 2020 under its insurance warranty.

Currently Premier guarantee have not made such conditions, their advice can be found here.

Our advice is that you should check with the Principle designer before suggesting or using MgO boards on projects.

The udpated guidance is available to members here.

The Cross-industry Construction Apprenticeship Task Force (CCAFT) is looking for employers and representatives from industry as well as college and training provider staff to review elements of the draft technical qualifications (we will give you key points to consider) and then answer some questions (probably a survey) relating to key themes CCAFT require feedback on.  Support is needed to scope one or more of the following areas:

Construction On-site

• Core content (H&S, Science, Design, Communication, Collaboration, Sustainability, the Built Environment, Technologies and Waste Management)
• Bricklaying
• Carpentry & Joinery
• Painting and Decorating
• Plastering

This is an opportunity for you and/or your staff to be involved to really make a difference to the qualifications that will be delivered in 2021 as an entry route to industry. Please feel free to forward to colleagues or employer associates who may be willing to get involved.

If you are interested in supporting us please contact qualdevelopment@cityandguilds.com In your email can you please highlight the pathway above you can help with, also whether you are an employer, an industry representative or college, training provider staff to ensure we can try our best to obtain a broad range of individuals who can support development.

Yesterday, the Chief Executive of HMRC, Jim Harra, appeared before the Treasury Select Committee and announced that the online system for making claims under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been developed and will be launched on 20 April.

The system has been tested to handle up to 450,000 claims per hour and live testing began yesterday with a small number of invited businesses. Employers can expect to receive their furlough grant within 4 to 6 days of submitting a claim and the first payments are due to come through by the end of April.

Mr Harra said he was confident that the portal would not crash but accepts that their call centre may struggle to cope with call volumes if many employers call for assistance on using the system. HMRC has put plans in place to ensure the process works as smoothly and quickly as possible, with 2,000 staff already dedicated to their helplines and another 3,500 redeployed to help process the huge number of anticipated claims.

He also outlined the measures which have been taken to counter potential fraud and abuse of the scheme. In particular:

• The employee must have been on payroll by 28 February
• The employer needs to have already been authenticated by HMRC
• There will be a 4 to 6 day processing period to make background checks
• There will also be checks after grants have been made to verify claims
• There will be a whistleblower’s hotline where fraud or abuse of the scheme can be reported (for example, if an employee has been asked to work when on furlough).

Thanks to FIS member Citation for providing this udpate.

FIS is calling on the sector to help set up a taskforce to identify and look at individual tasks and situations that are difficult or seemingly not possible to achieve whilst adhering strictly to the Public Health England Guidelines.

There are a number of instances that are being identified in the Finishes and Interiors Sector where it may not be possible to comply with the 2m individual proximity rule.  It is the view of FIS that we need a structured process to look at individual tasks and situations that are difficult or seemingly not possible to achieve whilst adhering strictly to the Public Health England Guidelines.

We are therefore asking members to complete a very short survey that identifies instances where it is challenging to complete works whilst maintaining the 2m spacing.  Once we have compiled a list of specific tasks (e.g. installing head details, fitting a fire door, cladding etc. rather than issues related to site welfare), our plan will be to form a taskforce to review the list, create appropriate risk assessments and identify options, that will ensure, where possible, works can continue safely.

You can complete the survey and volunteer support here.

Through this process we aim to produce clear unambiguous guidance and a more agile approach to review innovative solutions and support the sharing of best practice.

Consistency will protect our people, business owners/duty holders and contractual positions and ensure that, where safe to do so, companies can either return to work or withstand unreasonable pressure to return.  Please complete the short survey via the link below and if you are a H&S Expert and able to support us by volunteering for this vital group, let us know.

All responses will be treated in the strictest of confidence.  We are looking for representatives from across the supply chain to support this taskforce.  Naturally we will be looking to collaborate with other parts of construction sector and feeding information in to instruct the ongoing work of the Construction Leadership Council.

FIS has a dedicated COVID-19 Hub on its website which contains targeted information and resources to help those operating in our sector – visit www.thefis.org/covid-19-hub/