Every day, you’ll find Joe Dolwin out at one of our project sites. It’s his job to inspect each site to ensure our floor screeding teams are working safely. Floor screed inspections happen at random – our 15 screed teams don’t know where Joe will be heading next and they don’t know when he’ll inspect their site. And that’s just the way Joe likes it.

“You can’t pay lip service to safety,” he says. “It has to be taken seriously and we’ve worked really hard over the past few years to instil a safety culture within the company that everyone can feel ownership of. We’ve got a really good safety record – and everyone’s working to keep it that way. Random checks encourage every team to follow our prescribed Safety Systems of Work.”

Working safe

When Joe arrives on site, he’ll run through a standardised, wide-ranging pool of eight checks to ensure our gangs are installing floor screed correctly. He will:

1. Assess the personal protective equipment used by every worker
2. Check the pressure on the screed pump
3. Ensure clamps are in place correctly
4. Check clamps have safety pins connected properly
5. Monitor the cleanliness of vans
6. Check that teams are following site rules
7. Ensure that risk assessments have been read
8. Make sure risk assessments are understood and signed

Safety matters

“The moment you start taking safety for granted is the moment it jumps up and bites you – and we can’t let that happen,” explains Joe. “Safety isn’t just important for each individual worker and the reputation of the company (although both of those are vital). Our clients expect stringent safety protocols when they choose screed flooring from JCW, and they need to know we’re as serious as they are about completing every project safely.”

Carrot not stick

 To provide an added incentive to adhere to every safety standard, Joe has introduced a quarterly cash prize for the safest screeder. The latest winner, Simon Goldthorp, won £150 for topping the safety chart, with runner up Damian Smith collecting £75.

The prize is helping to ensure that safety is a matter of serious competition for JCW’s screed teams. “I’d call it healthy competition!” says Joe, “But if it helps all our people stay safe, it’s very much worthwhile.”

To bring our screed teams (safely) to your project, or to find out more about screed flooring, please contact us at estimating@jcwgroup.co.uk.