With the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) award season underway, here are our top ten tips on getting a great CCS Score!
1. Have a plan. Print out the questions you will be asked and have a great answer to each one. This will need to be developed over time but it acts as a plan for the duration of the project.
2. First impressions count. When a CCS monitor drives onto your site, they will already have a score in their head. Make sure everything visible is tidy and in its place - why not ask your line manager to tell you what they thought when they turned up.
3. Keep local residents informed. Make sure all the local residents know what you are doing and are informed of any potential disruption. This could be as simple as writing a newsletter and posting it through doors every month. Why not get extra brownie points and send out a questionnaire asking how you can improve?
4. Keep logs of everything. It’s important to monitor everything you do. This includes keeping site waste management plans, monitoring CO2 emissions, deliveries, distances travelled by operatives and visitors and where the materials come from. If you can collate this data into some KPIs, it shows you care about the statistics and how you can improve things. If you want to go one step further, why not give out info on public transport or encourage car sharing?
5. Strive for Innovation. Look to be the first to do something on a building site. Even if it turns out it has been done before, it shows you take CCS seriously and if you do get awarded an innovative idea it’s a guaranteed 10/10.
6. Display everything. If you have enough room, make separate display boards for things like Health and Safety, environmental, CCS, health and wellbeing etc. Don’t just throw the information on, take time to set it out so it looks well organised and easy to read, this really makes a difference to how it all reads.
7. Get the local school involved. Write to the local school or college and ask them what you can do for them. Don’t make it sound like you just want a photo for evidence, make them feel they are the winners out of the visit, get the kids engaged and it will be rewarding for both the school and the site managers involved.
8. Recycle. Lots of construction companies have recycling on their sites, but don’t go the extra mile with food waste and paper shredding etc. It costs very little to buy some extra bins and recycling signs. Why not part bury a dustbin with holes drilled out of the sides and use it as a compost bin?
9. It’s sometimes the little things that count. Little extras make a big difference to your site. Use things like your site hoarding to display motivational posters or small vision panels. Or why not plant a small flower bed just inside your front gate, these small things can be the difference between a good ‘compliant’ score and an ‘excellent’ score.
10. Be Clean. Possibly the most important thing about your site is cleanliness. All the hard work in the world will be ruined if your site has a muddy road outside, or the welfare is looking messy. These should be the easy points, but they often get forgotten! Do regular checks of welfare areas, site and boundaries and you will never let it get too bad.