inside

Olympic achievementP2

New bridge for oldP6

Six of the bestP3

Barhale PeopleP7

Safety • Communicat ion • Qual i ty • Integr i ty • TeamSpir i t • Caring • Trust • Pr ide • ISSUE 35 SUMMER 2010

Joint venture partners clinch

Barhalenewsth

isiss

ue

Closing the flood gatesP5

five year ThamesWater contracts

OPTIMISE, the jointventure betweenJ Murphy and Sons,

Barhale Construction plc,Clancy Docwra Ltd and MWHhas been awarded prestigiousAMP5 contracts by ThamesWater valued at potentially£500 million over the 5 yearcontract period.The Optimise Joint Venture

has been awarded the contractsto undertake capital works onthe network infrastructure forboth clean and waste water,covering the Thames Valley andNorth London regions. Thescope of works will includecontinuing to replace London'sworn-out Victorian water mains,upgrading sewers to protectcustomers’ homes from sewerflooding and installing assetmonitoring equipment (SCADA).Optimise has also been

awarded several operationalcontracts, including Repair andMaintenance as well asDeveloper Services works with apotential value of up to£150million in AMP5. Optimisegangs have been working on thenetworks since May.

Invest

The signing on 7th Aprilmarks the start of the new five-year regulatory period, (AMP5)April 2010 to March 2015, duringwhich time Thames Water willinvest nearly £5 billion acrossLondon and the Thames Valley.Optimise will be responsible

for whole lifecycle programmemanagement and the provisionof design and build solutions toThames Water. This awardrepresents a considerable scopeof work and will require closeworking liaison with a numberof Agencies, Authorities,Regulatory bodies and thegeneral public for successfuldelivery.The contracts represent a

major undertaking and possiblyone of the largest and mostvaried water infrastructureprogrammes to be carried out inthe UK. Ian Noble, OptimiseContract Director commented:“Signing the contract represents

Barhale’s Northernteam was in the rightplace at the right timeto be able to help theBBC to capturefootage for a nationalTV programme.

Find out how onpage 6.

Watchthe birdie…

AMP2. The team has recentlymoved into Rose Kiln Court inReading to work on the initialstages of the contract includingbusiness managementprocesses and procedures and toestablish the Optimise brand.Andy Alcock, Optimise

Programme Delivery Managerfor North London, said “Therewill be workshops and teambuilding events before thesummer to communicate thesemessages to the teams becausewe believe it is really importantto set the right culture from thestart.”

a huge accomplishment for theteam. We now are a key part ofthe Thames Water team helpingdeliver the biggest ever AMPcapital programme.”

Extension

Teams of designers andconstruction staff are alreadyworking on Capital Projects tostart on site from June this year.One of the early start projects, toprotect about 50 properties fromsewer flooding in Botley, is anextension to the West Oxfordproject completed by Barhale in

HERE at Barhale, like many ofour competitors, we are facinga period of significantchallenge to maintain oursustainability.However, after a period of

sustained bidding, we have beensuccessful in not only maintainingmany of our existing water sectorclients, but have acquired a numberof new frameworks such asYorkshireWater and SouthernWater.As in previous transitions from

the old AMP to the newAMP wesuffer a reduced workload until thenewAMP is up and running. Weare in that period again, and I canassure you we are doing everything

we can to keep Our Peopleemployed. Not only have we hadto re-tender our existingframeworks, many of our newcontracts are now operated withnew partners under jointventures.This is changing the way we

operate within Barhale andprovides both challenges andopportunities going forward.I am sure that many of our

competitors are envious of ourrecent success and we are now in astrong position to continue withour 30 years of successfulcontracting. I know it has been adifficult time over the past 12months and I thank you for yoursupport.

In other parts of this BarhaleNews you will see we have beenscooping yet more awards – inConsiderate Constructors Awards,from RoSPA for BTU’s health andsafety, and for communication fromthe ICE. I think it reflects well oneveryone in the company thatwhen we compare ourselvesagainst the rest of the industry incontests such as these, the wayBarhale People go to workmeasures up strongly in almostevery case.

news

Chair

man’s

comment

BTU – the joint venturebetween Barhale andTrant Holdings which is

carrying out the Southern WaterMulti-Services Framework (MSF)– has won a prestigious Goldaward at the 2010 RoSPAOccupational Health and SafetyAwards.The RoSPA Awards scheme is

not only about reducing thenumber of accidents and casesof ill-health at work – it alsoencourages organisations todevelop robust health and safetymanagement systems.BTU Framework Director

David Welch said: “To win aGold award at the first attemptis something BTU can be veryproud of, and speaks volumesabout the strong focus onsafety we have inherited from

our Barhale and Trant‘parents’.”David Rawlins, RoSPA’s

awards manager said: “BTU hasshown a commitment toprotecting the health and well-being of its employees andothers. As well as there beingclear ethical reasons and legalrequirements for good healthand safety management, there isalso a strong business case.”

BARHALE’S work for Severn Trent at Albrighton was again among the awardwinners when the Institution of Civil Engineers made its annual West Midlandsawards recently.

Barhale and partners Grontmij won the Communication Award, which wasone of those presented for ‘an outstanding example of a civil engineeringproject completed in 2009’.

Barhale and Grontmij have won four awards for the way they carried out the£8 million flood alleviation scheme, which involved innovative micro-tunnellingdriven on a curve through the rock to create an 1800mm tunnel under thelength of the High Street.

The ICE West Midlands award praised the way ‘the project resulted in everypublic commitment being honoured, including meeting the council-imposedChristmas embargo’.

Flood scheme earns awardfor public commitment

Pride for Barhale and Trant attop health and safety award

Barhalenews Issue 35 page 2 S a f e t y • C o m m u n i c a t i o n • Q u a l i t y • I n t e g r i t y • Te a m S p i r i t • C a r i n g • Tr u s t • P r i d e

BARHALE Chairman DennisCurran was announced as awinner in the Olympic DeliveryAuthority’s Diversity Awardswhich were announcedrecently.The Awards recognise and

celebrate the efforts made bycontractors on the OlympicPark to promote equality.The award was made

following independentevaluation with judges fromthe Employers Forum on Age,Employers Forum onDisability, Race on the AgendaandWomen and ManualTrades.Construction ManagerTom

Hunter received the award onbehalf of Dennis, who was outof the country when thepresentation ceremony tookplace.

Olympicwin forDennis

To win a gold award atthe first attempt issomething BTU can bevery proud of...

David Welch

‘‘

your Barhale contactsHead office, Railand MidlandsBarhale House,Bescot Crescent, Walsall,West Midlands WS1 4NNTel: 01922 707700Fax: 01922 721808

BCS and TunnellingWallows Lane, Walsall,West Midlands WS2 9BUTel: 01922 707700Fax: 01922 709231

Southern officeUnit 3, The Orient Centre,Greycaine Road,Watford, Herts WD24 7JTTel: 0844 736 0090Fax: 01923 474501

Northern office922 Birchwood Boulevard,Birchwood, WarringtonWA3 7QNTel: 01925 821590Fax: 01925 818047

Eastern officeOne Maskew Avenue,Peterborough,Cambridgeshire PE1 2AQTel: 01733 421600Fax: 01733 342529

Scottish officeSuite 45,Grovewood Business Centre,Strathclyde Business Park,Bellshill ML4 3NQTel: 01698 844717Fax: 01698 844713

email address: info@barhale.co.uk

news

BARHALE won six awardsin this year’s nationalConsiderate Constructor

Scheme Awards.The Olympic Park primary foul

drainage scheme for the ODAand Norlands Square floodalleviation scheme for ThamesWater both received Silverawards, while Bronze awardswent to the Albrighton floodalleviation scheme for SevernTrent Water, the Fisherman's HutCSO for Scottish WaterSolutions, Longdon Green toGentleshaw trunk main forSouth Staffordshire Water, andLondon Road flood alleviationscheme for Thames Water.Of 7600 construction sites that

participated in the CCS schemelast year, just 580 awards wereissued nationwide.An independent panel reviews

all eligible sites and decideswhether a site has reached thestandard required to win a

Considerate Barhale takes six

Barhale News, the newsletter of the Barhale Group, is published on behalf of Barhale by Golley Slater Public Relations, Castlemead, Lower Castle Street, Bristol BS1 3AG Tel: 0117 917 5170 Fax: 0117 917 5129 www.golleyslater.com

The Barhale teams receivetheir awards for the OlympicPark (above) and NorlandSquare (left) project.

22.. The sludge is thenpumped into a skip...

33.. And after a fewminutes becomes solidand does not leach.

in scheme awards

BARHALE has arranged access to anEmployee Assistance Scheme designed to helpits people cope better with situations whichcan impact on work and home life.

WorkLife Solutions can help people to dealwith financial stress, personal crisis,relationship problems, health issues andwork-related conflicts.

Barhale HR co-ordinator Sarah Smithsaid:

“It offers various areas of free supportincluding telephone counselling; personalsupport; legal guidance for issues thatcause anxiety or stress; bereavementassistance; medical information and onlineaccess to hundreds of fact-sheets,information and links to relevantwebsites.”

WorkLife Solutions can be contacted onFreephone 0800 316 9337, or atwww.legalandgeneral.com/worklifesolutions.

Support foremployees

Company staff in namingchallenge

Barhalenews Issue 35 page 3S a f e t y • C o m m u n i c a t i o n • Q u a l i t y • I n t e g r i t y • Te a m S p i r i t • C a r i n g • Tr u s t • P r i d e

National Award and what levelof Award it should receive. The selection is based on the

points given by the Scheme’sMonitor, as verified against thenational marking averages, andonly after approval from theclient. Other points taken intoconsideration include themanner in which any complaintshave been handled by the site.The Barhale team for the

primary foul drainagesystem for the Olympic Parkin Stratford, East London,included Shane Gorman SiteManager, Arthur GuganEnvironmental Manager,and Luke McDermott SiteOperations Manager.The Norland Square,

Notting Hill, flood alleviationscheme for Thames Waterwas run out of Maple Lodgeoffice. The Barhale/Thames Waterteam included Chris Smalley SiteManager, Andy Twidale Site

BARHALE Tunnelling turned to thecompany’s members of staff when itneeded a name for the new sludgetreatment equipment it has devised.

A competition among staff waswon by IS Support Analyst MarkYelland whose name WASP (WaterAbsorbing Sludge Pump) will now beofficially adopted in promoting theequipment to clients.

Barhale Tunnelling developed thedevice for making wet sludge easierand safer to handle on site. MarkBrooks said: “Tom Kavanagh came upwith the idea to hold a competition,which all members of Barhale could getinvolved in. The device comprises of aperistaltic pump to pump the sludgeand a small dosing unit to add smallquantities of Liquid DryAdd polymer.The sludge and DryAdd are thenpassed through an in-line mixer where

they combine and produce a materialthat can be transported in a dumper ortruck. The pump will remove the needfor a ‘Gully Sucker’ and/or tanker andtheir associated costs.

There are many uses for this newpiece of equipment, including using itto empty the liquid sludge thatremains in the bottom of settlementtanks, pump out silted up chambersand culverts, and remove liquid sludgefrom the bottom of the TangentialSeparator and turn it into a solid.

It can also be used to empty heavysilty water from canals and enable thesafe movement of liquid sludgeexcavated from shafts and tunnels.

Mark Brooks said: “Effectively theequipment turns a liquid into a solidwithout changing any chemicalcharacteristics. The price of the WASPis yet to be confirmed; however weare estimating that it will be £450 perweek on a hired basis.”

Engineer, Prunella Khalawan andDeclan Ryan Project ManagersRepresentative.

11.. Sludge and DryAdd ispumped through aninline mixer in the pump

Barhalenews Issue 35 page 4 S a f e t y • C o m m u n i c a t i o n • Q u a l i t y • I n t e g r i t y • Te a m S p i r i t • C a r i n g • Tr u s t • P r i d e

pillarwatch:profit

In this Barhale News Pillarwatch wesummarise the financial results recentlyannounced by the company for the year2009.

BARHALE released 2009financial results thatreflect the general

downturn in both constructionand its core water sector.Whilst Barhale has fared wellrelative to many within theindustry, turnover reduced to£129 million, against abackdrop of its busiest yearbidding for longer termsustainable frameworks. As a result Barhale is looking

forward to a healthy futurewith an order book of circa£700m to be delivered over thenext five years, in addition towhich it has achieved anindustry leading Safety AFR of0.14.

Renewing

Barhale Chairman DennisCurran said: “The recession hashad a significant impact on theconstruction industry and inaddition to this many of ourutility clients have gonethrough the process ofrenewing their five-year AssetManagement Plan (AMP5)frameworks for a start in 2010.” However, he believed that

“success in winning new 5 and10 year water frameworks, andin developing our rail andwaste business streams, meansthat we can look forward to2010 and beyond withtremendous confidence.”Barhale has now secured

AMP5 framework contractswith Anglian Water, SouthernWater, Yorkshire Water andThames Water, a number ofwhich will be delivered throughJoint Ventures. The companyhas also secured twoframework contracts forScottish Water, and hasdeveloped a strong businessrelationship with Network Railacross the UK.Key points from the financial

statement were:

• Turnover for the 12 months

to December 31, 2009 was£129m, against £157.7m for theprevious 12 months.

• The Group made anoperating loss of £283,000, after redundancy costs of£385,000, and a majorinvestment in excess of £1m insecuring the long term waterframeworks, compared with a£3.3m profit for the similarperiod in 2008.

• The directly-employedworkforce reduced by almostone third in the year. Barhale measures its

business sustainability on thethree key drivers of Profit,Safety and Environment,spelled out in its Three Pillarsphilosophy. During 2009 thecompany achieved its bestsafety performance since thecompany was started almost 30years ago, reaching its lowestever Accident Frequency Rate(AFR) of 0.14 – a 56 per centreduction – and achieved 5-StarBritish Safety Council safetyaudit status.A major drive on environ-

mental performance helped toresult in zero Category 1 and 2incidents, 75 per cent of wastebeing diverted from landfillthrough reuse or recycling; and30 per cent of aggregates usedbeing purchased from recycledsources.

Achieved

Looking forward DennisCurran said the company hadachieved its strategy ofremaining a major player in thewater industry by securing anumber of AMP5 frameworks,as well as widening its portfoliointo the complementary sectorsof transportation and wastemanagement. “In the first few months of

2010 turnover has remainedlow, however this will growsignificantly as the AMP5framework workload comes on

stream during the second halfof the year,” he said.“We are fortunate to have

pursued a longer term strategythat is focused on the sectorsthat are most stable in thefuture and that is underpinnedby our People that continue tooutperform against ourcustomers’ needs.”Reflecting on one of the

highlights in 2009 – winning‘Worker of the Year’ on theprestigious ODA 2012 project –Dennis said with some degreeof pride “with people like thatin the team, the future ofBarhale will continue to go fromstrength to strength.”

Tremendous confidence for Barhale asorders indicate a healthy future

... success inwinning new 5 and10 year waterframeworks, and indeveloping our railand waste businessstreams, means thatwe can lookforward to 2010and beyond withtremendousconfidence.

Dennis Curran

‘‘

Eastern project to refurbish sluice gates

� A key performanceenhancer for thecompany has been theintroduction of NearMiss reporting –initially in Safety, thenin Environment andmost recently in Profitperformance. On page8 of this edition ofBarhale News we lookat some of thesuccesses and benefitsarising from recently-reported Near Misses,and look ahead to thecrucial role Near Missreporting will play inBarhale’s futureprosperity.

Barhalenews Issue 35 page 5S a f e t y • C o m m u n i c a t i o n • Q u a l i t y • I n t e g r i t y • Te a m S p i r i t • C a r i n g • Tr u s t • P r i d e

Do not go wherethe path leads, gowhere there is nopath and leave atrail.

Chris Smith

‘‘

Eastern project to refurbish sluice gates

updateEastern keeps place in alliance

BARHALE is carrying out a £320,000 contract to refurbish one of the keysluice gate systems in the drainage and flood defence system of the EastAnglian Fens (pictured left).

The Sutton Bridge Sluice between Wisbech and Kings Lynn wasconstructed in 1938 on the junction of the South Holland Main Drain andthe River Nene. The sluice is opened regularly to allow fluvial water fromthe drain to discharge to the River at low tide.

At high tide the twin sluice doors are closed to provide front-line tidaldefence, protecting the 18,500 hectare catchment area which includeslarge areas of low-lying development and agricultural land.

Barhale has been employed as principal contractor by consultantHannah-Reed on the Internal Drainage Board project. The two identicalsluice doors measure 8m across and 6m high, weigh 20 tonnes and wereconstructed from thick riveted steel skin plates.

After careful assessment the decision was taken to refurbish, ratherthan replace the doors, with the work being carried out on site to removethe risk of damage during transportation. Dougie Barnard-Harris,Barhale sub-agent on the project, said: “We set up the entire sitecompound, including the creation of large concrete pads upon which a300 tonne crane could rest when lifting the doors.

“Specialist sub-contractor Sean Hodgson Ltd has been employed tocarry out the metalworking refurbishment work and to repaint the doors,and a 12m x 14m steel temporary workshop has been constructed on sitein which the fabrication work, sandblasting and repainting of the doorscan take place.”

The project began on site in January and the refurbished doors are setto be back in place and fully commissioned by July. The refurbishmentwill enable the sluice to operate for at least a further 25 years.

Dougie said: “This refurbishment project inevitably involves working atheight above the water and additional safety regimes have been in place,including specialist rescue teams and a rescue boat being in place atspecific points in the project’s progress.”

through a purchase to paysystem, that will maximise theopportunity to consolidate ouroverall spend, drive standard-isation and reduce supply chaincosts at the same time. “To improve the accuracy and

timeliness of cost and valuereporting, the Alliance hasintroduced a new costmanagement system, CCS, thattracks projects from conception tohandover. Whilst there are boundto be teething problems, once upand running this will benefiteveryone involved and helpprovide more effective and timelyreporting throughout the wholelife of the projects” he said.Chris Smith believes major

changes will be required to meetthe challenge being imposed."Affordability is the key word

as we go forward, and our aim isto achieve a 20 per cent saving on2007/8 business plan proposalsfor schemes. How will we dothis? Well it’s not all down toconstruction – or rather assemblyas we now know it,’’ said Chris,referring to that part of the Leandelivery process that happens outon site! “We will achieve the

savings via six initiatives ofwhich waste is the one that willanticipate 4.5% and mainlydepends upon construction effortduring the assembly phase. There are three factors within

this initiative: 50 per centreliability, which is all abouteffective planning and doingwhat you say you’re going to do,25 per cent material waste, and25 per cent re-work and delay.This is where we can maximisethe benefit of Barhale’simpressive Near Miss process,which is now up and running forall Three Pillars, including Profit –or cost efficiency as it isbecoming known – and hasactively engaged with the wholeteam right to the coalface.”Chris believes there is scope to

improve but warns that potentialat site level is restricted to certainareas. He said: “Sites will have tocomply with the solution analysisand seek permission to vary’’.“Thus our opportunities once

at assembly stage to makefurther reductions rest primarilywith people and plant.Innovation, no waste, tightcontrols and having the rightattitude, and challengingourselves will be essentialcomponents. Do not go where thepath leads, go where there is nopath and leave a trail.”Barhale’s AMP 5 projects for

year 1 are now primarily issued toWastewater Infrastructure andtotal potential spend would grossat £23m. “However we areencouraged to deliver more,” saidChris.The four teams delivering

Flooding, S101a's, Relining andGrowth are now engaged in thenew process, defined byGateways, which are essentiallygovernance checks. By GW3 theBarhale teams are expected toproduce a solution that meets the20% below FBP (final businessplan) affordability target. Twoprojects have already reachedthis stage and have beencommitted to assembly and manywill follow along the ‘trail’ that isbeing created.Chris Smith said: “Our People

have been through very toughtimes in recent months,preserving a core that will beincreased as work develops.Nevertheless this AMP transitionhas been particularly difficult forall concerned. Let’s hope we arenow heading toward normalservice with a leading edge onefficiency.”

BARHALE Eastern hasretained its place along withSkanska/Aker Solutions,

Balfour Beatty Utility Services,Biwater, Grontmij/MottMacDonald and Black&Veatch todeliver the AMP 5 capitalprogramme in excess of £900Mfor Anglian Water, as part of the@One Alliance.This is Barhale Eastern's third

successive AMP framework withAnglian Water and, according toEastern Regional Manager ChrisSmith “with each evolution weare becoming more integrated”.“Barhale people hold key

positions within the Alliance andour reorganised offices atMaskew are now shared withsome of the Skanska/Aker peoplein the Wastewater NonInfrastructure Team,” he said.Chris also reports some key

changes in the way the new AMPwill be managed and delivered,with new challenges to be met. “To begin with, purchasing of

materials will in future be allthrough the single AllianceIntegrated Procurement Team,known as IProcT, with much ofthe supply chain paid direct

on site

Team helps out nature showwith footage of elusive hawks

Out with the old,in with the new...

BARHALE stepped in to helpthe BBC to capture keyfootage for Springwatch

2010, the TV wildlife programme.The programme, which is

presented by Kate Humble andChris Packham, was seeking tofilm sparrowhawks breeding onan island next to where Barhalewas carrying out the £1mcontract to replace a pedestrianbridge over the River Weaver atNorthwich in Cheshire.The existing wooden

Riversdale Bridge has fallen intodisrepair and Barhale has beenappointed by Cheshire West andChester Council to construct andinstall a new steel swing bridge– manufactured by BCS – in itsplace.Barhale’s Gary Wilde arranged

for the BBC Springwatch filmcrew to use a cherry picker onthe Barhale pontoon in the RiverWeaver to get high above thetrees and film down into thewoodland to get shots of thebirds and their nest.BBC production assistant Lucy

Smith, who is pictured on page 1with Andy O’Leary and JohnMcHugh, was so impressed by

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the assistance her team receivedshe wrote to Barhale ChairmanDennis Curran to say “thank youever so much for helping theBBC Springwatch team. We aremaking a film about sparrow-hawks nesting on the HuntsLock island so these top shotswill be great in the film, helpingus to establish the setting.“Everyone from Barhale was

Value ofstronglocal ties

BARHALE Rail was contracted by Network Rail (LNW,Civils) to undertake a Design and Build contract with itschosen design partner, Crouch, Waterfall and Partners(CWP) to replace a life-expired overbridge situated atYews Lane in Helsby, Cheshire with a new steel fabricatedstructure.

Both the demolition of the existing overbridge and theinstallation of a replacement steel bridge was successfully

extremely helpful – AndyO’Leary, Peter the cherry pickeroperator, and John McHugh, aswell as Gary Wilde who seteverything up for us. So thankyou very much.” The edition of Springwatch

containing the sparrowhawksfootage attracted around fourmillion viewers when it wasbroadcast on June 8.

achieved in a 27 hour OROR possession.CWP designed the new steel overbridge for BCS to

fabricate in-house in preparation for the timely delivery tosite for the main possession.

A 1000 tonne mobile crane was required to undertakethe removal of the existing bridge during the Sundaypossession. Prior to the start of the possession someadvanced demolition of the existing bridge deck spans wasundertaken to minimize the works necessary within thepossession. Brickwork was broken out from the existingdeck jack arches to the spans over the drainage ditches inadvance of the main possession using a mini digger andpecker with the central span over the railway being liftedout in its entirety during the main possession.

The existing main deck sections were supported bychains/slings from the 1000 tonne mobile crane and theexisting connections into the piers/ abutments cut throughat either end. The deck sections were then jacked clear ofthe cills with pad jacks and then lifted off the supports. Theremoved sections were placed in the main compound and

cut up into transportable sections for disposal off site. Once the deck sections were removed the piers and

abutments were trimmed to the new level to receive acementitious screed and new PCC cills. These cills werethen anchored into the abutments/piers with dowels andgrouted into place. The deck was lifted into place in onecomplete piece with only the parapet cladding to beadded later.

Once the new steel deck was placed, the finishes wereundertaken including the application of the waterproofing,deck end drainage, run off slabs, and deck surfacingincluding tie ins and associated fencing to the approaches.The bridge had a final inspection prior to being re-openedto use by the farmer.

THE Barhale team acting asPrincipal Contractor on ThamesWater’s Clova Road FloodAlleviation Scheme has built veryclose ties with the localcommunity, including supportingEarlham Primary School’sambitions to become aSustainable School.

Barhale has donated £1000 toprogressing the completion of anecologically-advanced toilet andwashroom building refurbishmentat the school.

The donation followed contactmade with the school to explainthe benefits of the works, whichare alleviating foul water floodingaffecting more than 90 propertiesin the area. The team also metteachers, parents and pupils.

During the course of these talksBarhale saw that the school’splanned sustainable toilet projectwas translating the company’sown environmental values to the“next generation” and agreed tomake the donation towards theproject.

The project is at the forefrontfor environmental awareness andtechnology in public buildings.Harvested “grey” water iscollected into a storage tank,filtered and used for handwashing, and toilet flushing.Treated water is also plumbed into provide drinking water.

Other measures includeautomatic “break-the-beam”sensors on the taps to reducewater wasteage, automaticmovement sensors to activate thelights and solar powered handdryers.

Barhale has forged strong linkswith the school through workingwith Earlham’s Emma Ward, LeadTeacher for Sustainability, andDarren Williams, Earlham’s HeadTeacher.

The sustainable toilet andwashroom building will be used asa continuous experiment for thepupils to learn about preservingthe environment.

BBC cameraman Mark Yatesfilms the sparrowhawks

from the Barhale pontoon.

barhalepeopleIN MAY over 1000 young

people and adult volunteersdescended upon Beanly in

Northumberland to take part inthe Barhale-sponsored MedievalMarra Camp. Marra camps have been a long

standing annual event ran byNorthumberland Scouts for anumber of years with anemphasis on meeting newfriends and trying newchallenges and each with itsown special theme. This year was a landmark

event as the Chief Scout, BearGrylls, kickstarted hiswhistlestop helicopter tour ofthe North East region at theevent. He took part in a numberof the many activities on offer tothe young people includingClimbing, a Zip Line, andZorbing and even held abackwoods cookingdemonstration. Barhale provided all of the

Scout support from Barhale

Edinburgh team raises cash for charity

Great turnout for June golf day

Barhalenews Issue 35 page 7S a f e t y • C o m m u n i c a t i o n • Q u a l i t y • I n t e g r i t y • Te a m S p i r i t • C a r i n g • Tr u s t • P r i d e

PULLING himself away from the WorldCup in South Africa briefly, the BarhaleNews soccer correspondent reports:In the football Parthenon that is the

Edinburgh Corn Exchange, 13 wearywarriors resplendent in blue and yellowstood firm in honour of the Barhalename against multiple ferocious enemies. The yellow peril performed well above

expectations but unfortunately lost outto the eventual tournament winners. Butit was all in a good cause as over £2000was raised for Cancer Research UK.

After the tournament the strips weredonated to Westerton Utd BC, a Glasgowteam managed by Northern ContractsManager Scott McKechnie.

signage for the event whichpulled everything together.One of the event organisers,

Barhale’s Simon Miller said:“The continued support fromBarhale at events such as thisreally makes a difference in theprovision of scouting to youngpeople across the country.” For scouting to grow it

requires more adult supportthan ever before; there are manydifferent volunteer positionsavailable both locally andregionally which range fromworking directly with youngpeople on a weekly basis,through to management andsupport roles in a number ofdifferent fields, often drawingupon members own personalskills. CONGRATULATIONS to the

Stourbridge youth soccer team,which is celebrating anunprecedented triple triumphsince being sponsored by Barhale.

The company provided completenew kit for the team, which hassince won the Worcester CountyCup and the Birmingham CountyCup as well as being unbeaten inbecoming First DivisionChampions in the MidlandsFloodlit league.

Now, just imagine if Barhalehad sponsored the Englandfootball team…

Winningstreak forsoccerteam

Barhale sponsored thesignage at the scouts’Medieval Marra Camp.

TWO Barhale Golf Society Golf Days havenow taken place this year, with a thirdplanned for early July.

At the first day, which took place at TheWarwickshire Golf Club, 18 golfers turnedout, comprising Barhale employees, clients,suppliers, family members and friends.

The prize winners on the day were: 1stGareth Moss (son of Gary Moss); 2ndWayne Barker – Winner of the BarhaleTrophy and best employee score; 3rdPatrick Boyle; Longest Drive Peadar Boyle(son of Patrick Boyle); Nearest the pinFionn Boyle (another son of Patrick!).

The second golf day took place atThorpe Wood Golf Club in June. JamesMulchinock said: “We had a much

improved turn out with 33 golfers playing.”The prize winners were: 1st Tom Hunter

(Barhale Southern) – Winner and recipientof the Barhale Cup; 2nd Ian Goodfellow(Guest); 3rd Paul Coxon of A-Plant(Supplier/Client); 4th Matt Brodrick(Guest) – played off 16 handicap; 5thGareth Moss (son of Gary Moss); LongestDrive James Mulchinock (BCS); Nearestthe pin Mark Taylor (Guest).

James Mulchinock said: “The Ladies Prizewent to Cheryl Charlton, wife of BrianCharlton, and we would be delighted if anyother ladies would like to give our nextday a go. We are holding our third day ofthe year at Draycote Hotel, WhitefieldsGolf Club near Rugby in early July.”

CONGRATULATIONS to thefollowing, who have becomeparents in the last couple ofmonths:� Site Agent Lee Callaghan,whose wife Eva gave birth toThomas Peter.� Rail Safety and AssuranceAssistant Kelly Perry and herpartner Martin now have a babyson Jack, who weighed 7lb 9ozat birth.� BCS Team Leader Ryan Laydenand partner Cheryl, who havehad a baby boy called Noah. Heweighed in at 6lb 13oz.

It’s a boy!

Proposal:As well as the daily reconcil-iations of plant on site that should be carriedout, we are actively encouraging all membersof the site team to be proactive and toensure all items – including smaller items, areconstantly challenged as to ongoing hire.

Proposal: BCS identified an inherentproblem and worked closely withmanufacturer Barford to come up with aretro fix. They have now modified the earthlead, upgraded the battery to an 800 ampunit, fitted larger isolator switches anduprated the starter relay to 70 amp. Bymodifying the whole fleet, BCS hasproactively avoided more potential delay cost.

Proposal:We are investigating alternative‘coded locks’ as well as a simple site rule of asecure duplicate key cupboard, together withbetter ‘nominated’ control of keys.

Proposal: We are analysing the informationabout causation, frequency and location andwill be publishing the results to help addressthe issue. Quite often poor planning andchange to plan is the immediate cause andthis is now a key element of SeniorManagement Three Pillar Inspections. We arerolling out a series of toolbox talkshighlighting the real cost of failing to planproperly to help raise awareness andimprove focus on this issue.

By identifying and recordingoccasions and situationswhere a potential accidentcould have happened butfortunately did not, helped thecompany to identify trendsand proactively address areasfor improvement.It also led to a far greater

involvement from everyone inthe business, proving thateveryone can make a differencein Barhale, with over 65% ofNM’s coming from the frontlineworkforce. This was a keyelement of improving behav-ioural safety performance andthe real value of the Near Missphilosophy is evident in thefact that the Safety AFR atBarhale reached its lowest everfigure of 0.14 during last year.That same technique has beenapplied to the EnvironmentPillar with equally encouragingresults.Last year the company

introduced Near Miss reportingto the third of the Three Pillars –Profit – which in practical terms

profitnear

misses

Delivery of more efficient,effective servicesreflects cost efficiency. And,according to Financial DirectorGeoff Pearson, the benefits fromreceiving Profit Near Misses isvery encouraging.“Bearing in mind that we

have had a recent dip inworkload, we are very pleased,that in the first four months ofthis year, we actually received965 Profit Near Miss reports. Anexcellent start to the year.So what are we doing the

Profit Near Misses?The Near Miss reports are

analysed into six categories:

• Defective/wastedmaterials

• Inaccurate or lateinstructions

• Poor planning andscheduling

•Waste of money/overpayment

• Defective/wasted plant

• Lost or stolen plant/materials

“It is clear from analysing thereports that better planningand scheduling can have amajor impact in reducingunnecessary expenditure,” saidGeoff.Profit Near Misses (PNM)

reported cover a very wide

Proposal: Whilst we already record NMdefects and use as a KPI with our plant hiresuppliers as part of their SLAs, we are nowintroducing pre-use checks to be able to spotbefore they affect operations and also post-use checks to ensure any defects are pickedup before plant is transferred to other sites.

Proposal: The root causes were due to acombination of not testing before use and in-correct installation method of larger stoppers.As a result we have delivered training to keyusers and introduced a strict pre- and post-use testing regime after we found we werebeing charged for pre-existing damage.

The concept of reportingand analysing Near Misseswas introduced into Barhalea number of years ago aspart of the company’sefforts to improve safetyperformance.

Barhalenews Issue 35 page 8S a f e t y • C o m m u n i c a t i o n • Q u a l i t y • I n t e g r i t y • Te a m S p i r i t • C a r i n g • Tr u s t • P r i d e

PNM: Many near misses recorded aredue to a defect or breakdown of hiredplant.

PNM: A number of costly nearmisses associated with inflatablepipe stoppers were recorded acrossthe business

PNM: Problems with some of our newdumpers breaking down is causingdelays and losing money on sites.

PNM: A number of delays have beenreported due to lost keys. The loss ofthe diesel key or stores key can be sovital as to delay the whole job.PNM: Failure to put an item of plant

off-hire when no longer needed is acostly reported near miss.

It is clear fromanalysing thereports thatbetter planningand schedulingcan have a majorimpact inreducingunnecessaryexpenditure.

Geoff Pearson

‘‘

Case studies: Profit Near Misses

range of topics, from plant notstarting to incorrect itemsbeing delivered to site, andfrom poor communicationbetween office and site to lostkeys causing delays.Geoff Pearson said: “We have

now started to put anapproximate financial valueagainst each of the Profit NearMisses so that we can begin toadd up the potential costsaving – and therefore profitincrease – of doing things rightfirst time.”This article highlights how

your reporting of Profit NearMisses is helping the companynot only to save money but alsoto be more efficient andeffective in delivering servicesto our clients, which is key tosecuring a sustainable futuretogether.One of the key messages

from the Near Miss reporting todate is the huge overlapbetween all Three Pillars andthat many of the Near Misseshave some degree of effect onthe other two Pillars. Hence thegood news is that a Near Missimprovement in one Pillar canalso lead to benefits in theother Pillars at the same time.

PNM: Many examples where laterequests for materials and plant haveresulted in both poor buying due tolack of time to secure best price andpotential for delay on site.