I listened recently to an interview Professor Trevor Marchand gave on the Social Science Bites podcast where he talks about the time he spent apprenticing with the masons of Djenné and Sana’a:
“The masons would start off the morning by making benedictions before they would start laying bricks and that was for the safety of those working on site and also for the prosperity of those who would come to live there. And clients knew this, so it was actually important really for masons to almost perform these in a very overt fashion because people could see them; they could be witness to them and clients relied on that guarantee for their safety in the buildings and, arguably, benedictions were as important to a structure as the mortar between the bricks.” (Marchand, 2015)
This got me thinking about Health and Safety in UK construction.
I teach my apprentices that the definition of Health and Safety culture is basically “the way we do things ‘round here”. I then spend the session talking about various elements of Health and Safety, be that PPE, RAMS, SSOWs, inductions, toolbox talks, training courses and CSCS. I also cover which responsibilities fall to who: employers, employees and the HSE. Throughout the lesson I pepper in comments about the importance of reading and following the RAMS.
I ask them who has signed up to RAMS (everyone will raise their hand). I then ask who has read the RAMS and most (if not all) hands go down.
I know Health and Safety is important to our employers. They insist on (and we welcome) auditing on a termly basis where they give us feedback and pointers on our practice to ensure we are working to industry level standards.
But…
What I hear back anecdotally from apprentices and see in the photographic and video evidence brought in for their portfolios, is that time and money often trump Health and Safety. If there are corners to be cut – the visibility of the performance of Health and Safety is valued over actual practice. Basically, as long as we are seen to be doing the right thing, we’re good.
The act of signing RAMS is not what keeps people safe though, right? It’s what covers butts if the proverbial excrement hits the fan. What keeps people safe is adhering to the guidance within the RAMS. Wearing the right PPE, putting out suitable TM, scanning before breaking ground – applying the control measures. Which you can only do correctly… if you read the RAMS. This becomes a motif throughout my lessons.
You won’t hear me say anything dismissive or derogatory about rituals or benedictions. You are reading the work of a woman with a broomstick tattoo and traveller heritage. Personal or religious beliefs aside – while I might carry my talisman for safety, I am not going to forego the protection of my FFP3 mask or my impact goggles when using the disc cutter… have faith, but use the knowledge and resources at your disposal as well.
As my understanding about tacit and embodied knowledge deepens, I can see why some Health and Safety practices are bypassed by experienced craftsmen. When talking to Dave about concrete, he will tell me that he knows the consistency of the concrete is right for the pour for the pillars by rolling it into a ball in his hand and seeing that it mostly holds its shape. He doesn’t need a slump test, he knows. 30 years of doing. But for the apprentice, who is inexperienced if she automatically reaches her hand into the moving cement mixer to “check the concrete” at EPA, we have a Health and Safety violation which results in immediate failure of the assessment. When questioned she will explain that “it’s what we always do on site”.
The apprentice’s split-second action is classed as a Health and Safety violation and (by the given marking criteria) the apprentice has to fail – it could be argued that what they were actually demonstrating in that moment was authentic groundworker behaviour – possibly the most authentic act of groundworks in the whole assessment. But, of course, we cannot teach apprentices that it is okay to put your hand into a piece of moving machinery. We would say, switch it off first – but again, this is absolutely not “what happens on site”.
Another case in point stems from a heated discussion I had with an apprentice about some of his photographic evidence being inadmissible – his argument was “you don’t have to wear PPE on private jobs”. My argument was the risk of concrete burns, dust inhalation or flying debris do not change based on ‘where’ you are working and so for evidence to be appropriate for a portfolio which must show “understanding of: the principles of health, safety, welfare and environmentally responsible work practices and how they must be applied in relation to the work, self and to others” we cannot use a picture of you knocking up without a dust mask on.
Why have one rule for site and another for private work? The only thing that changes is the likelihood of a H&S inspection by the main contractor, SHEQ advisor or HSE. The question then becomes are you practising safely or are you being seen to perform Health and Safety? Because these are very different things, with very different purposes and very different outcomes.
You can take this further by returning to the everyday practices we rely on to demonstrate Health and Safety: toolbox talks, inductions, RAMS, CSCS cards. In theory, these exist to protect people. In practice, their value is questionable if, the moment an apprentice walks past the sign listing five points of PPE and onto site, and is told: “sign this and start digging” – and they do. Not because they don’t know better, but because they trust the gangers and the foreman, and because they do not feel it is their place to challenge them and ask to see the dig permit.
I encourage apprentices to have that confidence. I point to the fact that one element of the standard we must evidence is “risk management: the ability to resist pressures to follow unsafe working practices”. Having an anecdote where you can talk about being asked to “just jump into that inspection chamber and clear it out” and refusing because it is a confined space, and you know that confined spaces require controls, is actually a positive thing. It is evidence of understanding. Being able to say no is important. I understand though, that it is a trait that develops with time and confidence in your own competence.
The truth is that nine out of ten apprentices will just jump in and crack on. That is what they see. That is what they are socialised into. And this is where the gap between performance and practice opens up. Because it is not the act of signing RAMS, sitting through an induction, or holding a card that keeps people safe. What keeps people safe are the modern-day rituals of Health and Safety: the scanning, the donning of PPE, the segregation of plant and pedestrians, the use of a winch and a top man. Done purposefully and mindfully. I am not suggesting we say an incantation, but that we give meaning to our actions rather than go through the motions. This kit protects me while I lay the foundations that will protect others…
When pressure is applied, to tick boxes, to get going, to make it look like Health and Safety has been done, safety is reduced to a performance rather than a practice. And when that happens, we see accidents. We saw it during Covid, when inspections fell and complacency set in. The statistics have dipped since, but they have plateaued. We are not getting safer, despite increasing layers of bureaucracy.
Do we want Health and Safety to be experienced as the structure of a culture built on keeping people safe — so they can go home at the end of the day to their loved ones — or as a chore. Something to be seen to be done, rather than something that is valued.
Back to Marchand and the Masons. I am not saying their benedictions were a meaningless or a performance art. It was important for them to be witnessed by clients. They created trust through visibility. They meant something because they were embedded in practice. They were not a substitute for skill, but part of a wider system of care and responsibility. We need to approach the witnessing of Health and Safety in the same way, not through paperwork but as a culture that people must be able to see, feel, understand, and trust. Modern Health and Safety rituals only work when they are similarly embedded.
The masons’ benedictions reassured occupants that care had been taken. Modern safety rituals should reassure workers and families that care has been taken. But currently, too often, they reassure: auditors; inspectors; organisations.
I am not ending with a call to action. I am not saying we need systemic change, more training or stronger compliance. I am asking us to think about why Health and Safety legislation and roles exist at all. I think it is so that people go home, bodies and minds intact, feeling valued and protected.
What are our rituals to be? Paperwork offerings to the HSE or meaningful vows of protection to our workforce.
Health and safety should be witnessed as care-in-practice and not as compliance-on-display.
References
Marchand, T. (2015) Trevor Marchand on Craft, Social Science Bites.
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