The Building Podcast
Mark Wakeford is Chairman of the National Federation of Builders, vice-chair at Constructing Excellence Midlands and a Governor at Construction College, Moulton College. He has run a large regional building contractor and now chairs Evoenergy, one of the UK's foremost renewable companies, bringing low carbon solutions to corporate Britain.
Mark talks to leading experts from across the construction sector to discuss issues facing the built environment. He explores various challenges with his guests, who offer solutions, information and ideas that listeners can apply to their own situations, be it in a company, on a project or studying at college.
The Building Podcast aims to provide CPD on the go. Supporting the sector with easily digestible ideas to support a rapidly changing industry!
The Building Podcast
Mark chats to Billy Boulos and Hannah Penn
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Melanoma and non-melanoma cancers are the most prevalent form of cancer in the UK, accounting for nearly one in three cases. The incidence of this cancer is due to double in the UK over the next twenty years. The relevance to our industry is that of the 2,300 deaths that occur each year from melanoma, 44% occur within the wider construction industry, when we account for less than 8% of the working population. Twice as many men die from melanoma cancers than women, when the initial incidence is the same.
These statistics must be a wake-up call for the construction industry. For an industry that prides itself on a health and safety culture, losing around 1,000 people to melanoma should be unacceptable. Whilst skin damage is cumulative, meaning that any cancer cannot be attributed to a single site or exposure, the challenge for our industry must be to act in unison, working in concert to reduce the risks of exposure. We must find a way to overcome the usual (often male) preserve of I’ll be alright, don’t worry about me and change our industry culture. It starts with education, closely followed by freely available skin protection products on site.
Billy Boulos is the co-founder of Lifejacket Skin Protection, with a mission to educate people on the risks and the easy ways to prevent skin cancer. (86% of skin cancer cases are preventable!) Hannah Penn is the joint MD of creative agency Pablo London and also has a mission to educate people, this time in the construction industry, with a product that highlights the quantity of UV light that we are exposed to.
Listen up to protect yourself and to learn how easy it will be to protect your fellow workers.