Schoolchildren are taught the importance of ‘safety first’ by Ivor Goodsite

Published by Claire Tinston for IPB Communications in Housing and also in Communities

Youngsters across Merseyside were taught about the dangers of playing near building sites when safety mascot Ivor Goodsite visited their school last week.

As many as 623 pupils from Grove Street Primary School in New Ferry, Wirral, Our Lady Star of the Sea RC Primary School in Seaforth and Rimrose Hope Church of England Primary School in Sefton benefited from the health and safety talks.

Ivor Goodsite is the Considerate Constructors Scheme mascot and is used by Speke-based Bramall Construction to educate schoolchildren about staying away from construction sites as the company delivers a number of housing and regeneration schemes across the region.

Bramall uses Ivor Goodsite to capture the pupils’ attention while they are shown a health and safety presentation and a short DVD entitled ‘Game Over’ created by the Health and Safety Executive.

The DVD follows three young children who go on to a building site and the dangers they face.

Bramall also hands out a booklet in the health and safety talks designed to be a fun way of learning about the dangers that exist on building sites such as large vehicles coming and going from sites, scaffolding and the use of dangerous building materials.

Sara Sutton, Health and Safety Manager at Bramall Construction, said: “These health and safety talks are a fantastic way of keeping young children safe from the hazards associated with construction sites.

“They find Ivor Goodsite very engaging and using a mascot helps the children concentrate better on the health and safety talks. We also encourage them to try on hard hats and high visibility clothing to gain a better understanding of how the construction process works.”

Bramall has teamed up with schools in Merseyside to coincide with its work with Wirral Partnership Homes in Birkenhead and One Vision Housing in Sefton.

In Wirral, where Bramall hosted a health and safety talk to 400 pupils at Grove Street Primary School, the contractor is carrying out rendering works, new guttering and canopies to more than 200 properties on Woodward Road for Wirral Partnership Homes.   The package of work also includes roof works and internal works such as loft insulation.

After visiting a number of dwellings, Bramall discovered that there were a large number of children living on the estate from young people to teenagers so the health and safety visit was imperative. 

Staff at Bramall are also working closely with Wirral Partnership Homes to host regular residents’ meetings and there is also an office on site for people to drop into, as well as a community centre. 

In addition, Bramall is working on behalf of One Vision Housing to revamp three tower blocks in Seaforth, Sefton, as part of a £20 million scheme.

As the main contractor on the project, Bramall has been assigned the task of refurbishing Montgomery House on Claremont Road, Churchill House and Alexander House on Sandy Road over a four year period. 

The challenging scheme, known as the Kings Park regeneration project, will see Bramall Construction enlarge the footprint of the tower blocks and take them from 15 to 18 storeys in height.

Bramall will build 109 new apartments alongside the existing 174 units. The remodelled tower blocks will benefit from new lifts, aluminium double glazing and a door entry system to replace existing services.