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Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
‘I worked outside for 20 years with my top off – then I got skin cancer'
Sun's out, guns out on UK construction sites, but with rates of melanoma at an all time high with outdoor workers, builders have been given a hi-vis warning to cover up their exposed bodies You know summer's here when builders are seen working shirtless on a scaffold on a British street with rapidly reddening shoulders. However, builders are now being alerted about the risks of too much sun exposure with a warning from the very same shirt they'd normally throw off. The construction sector makes up just 8% of the UK workforce, but is responsible for 44% of occupational skin cancer deaths. Despite this alarming figure, many site workers never wear any sunscreen, let alone a shirt. Shane McCormick, is a site worker and skin cancer survivor. He has been campaigning for sunscreen to be included in on-site gear after his own cancer scare. He says, 'I worked outside for two decades and when the sun was out, the shorts were on and my top off. Sun damage wasn't something anyone spoke about. Eventually I had a mole checked and it was cancerous.' A new hi-vis vest which glows red when the UV risk is high could have saved Shane from getting melanoma. This new hi-vis vest - which features a panel of long-lasting UV sensitive material - glows from white to pink to red as the suns' strength grows, giving a physical reminder to builders of the risks of exposure and potentially saving lives. As well as this, all participating sites will have UV-U-SEE sun cream from LifeJacket Skin Protection to rub on and cover up. The vest is the creation of skin cancer survivor, Hannah Penn, who was diagnosed with cancer aged 33, shortly after giving birth to her second child. She was astonished about the skin cancer rates among builders and the risks they take and set about creating the vest with her agency Pablo Creatives. She has teamed up with the National Federation of Builders (NFB) and the Considerate Constructors' Scheme – the organisation that seeks to raise standards in the construction industry and whose logo can be seen on sites that sign up to their guidelines - who made it policy for all their sites to offer the vests and available sunscreen. Building worker Shane adds, 'I've since had multiple surgeries including removing a 10cm tumour and three quarters of the lymph nodes from my right arm. Melanoma is preventable and construction businesses need to take skin cancer more seriously, including sunscreen in the PPE they provide their teams. 'I don't want others to have to go through what I've been through, so please make sure you're wearing sunscreen, covering up and getting yourself checked regularly.' Hannah says her interest in creating a vest for builders because of the high mortality rate in that industry, but the gear can eventually be used across many fields. She says: 'I've had what I'd consider an entirely normal level of exposure to the sun in the UK, so when I was diagnosed aged 33, I became obsessed with how I could raise awareness of the risks I was ignorant to and stop others from getting melanoma. Unlike most cancers, skin cancer is 86% preventable. So with the right interventions and awareness, we can save hundreds if not thousands of lives. That's why all of us and Pablo felt so passionate and driven to use our understanding of how you use brands to change behaviour to spotlight this fatal risk within construction. 'The beauty of the technology we've created is that it will help so many people, not just those in the construction industry. The possibilities of the UV-U-SEE technology are endless – it can be added to prams to give mums peace of mind, or it can be used while playing sports or other outdoor activities, or even just as you pop to the shops. 'Melanoma is a silent killer. And one that it's so easy to ignore. I was lucky to be caught in time. I hope this will help save other people too.' Research conducted by the NFB and Considerate Constructors Scheme found that, despite the risks, 39% of site workers do not think of melanoma as a workplace danger. More than one in 4 on-site workers think that their employer does not take skin cancer seriously and just over half (51%) have not been provided with health and safety training that alerted them to the dangers of skin cancer. Desiree Blamey, head of partnerships for Considerate Constructors Scheme, which champions construction worker wellbeing, says, 'We want to change behaviour to save lives. We recognise and reward sites that take skin safety seriously. Contractors need to show a clear, proactive approach to managing UV risk, just as they would any other hazard. 'A logo showing when UV levels get dangerous is a brilliant idea as it makes the risk impossible to ignore. We want UV safety to be second nature – like hard hats and harnesses - and are committed to driving real change around UV safety across the industry.'
BBC News
17-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Runcorn and Helsby by-election: Tories pick building boss as candidate
The Conservatives have selected a senior executive from the building industry to contest the forthcoming Runcorn and Helsby seat became vacant after Mike Amesbury quit the House of Commons after he was convicted and given a suspended prison sentence for repeatedly punching a constituent in the has been sitting as an independent MP since he was suspended by Labour following the assault in Frodsham, Cheshire, in the early hours of 26 Houlston, of the National Federation of Builders, said he would "stand up for our area". The by-election, the date of which has not yet been announced, will be Sir Keir Starmer's first as prime won the newly created seat at last year's general election, securing a majority of more than 14,000. Reform UK came second, ahead of the West and Chester Council's deputy leader Karen Shore has already been announced as Labour's candidate, while the Greens have put forward local councillor Chris Copeman, who came fourth in July's general UK and the Liberal Democrats have yet to announce their candidates. Read more stories from Cheshire on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC North West on X. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
The Independent
28-01-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Migrant labour needed to solve UK housing crisis, construction industry warns
The construction industry wants a special visa to be created to import enough workers it says are critical to solving the housing crisis as the government grapples with quelling migration. The Labour government has pledged to build more than 1.5million new homes in the UK by the end of Parliament, however, concerns within the construction industry over manpower have dampened Sir Keir Starmer 's plans. The National Federation of Builders (NFB) said Labour's goals are unachievable because there is a shortage of more than 200,000 construction workers in the UK, as the opposition launched a fresh attack on the government over net migration driving population growth. The trade association has proposed a three-to-five-year construction visa alongside a 'one for one' scheme whereby for every overseas worker employed, a British worker in the same discipline is funded or trained. 'The UK trains less than 20,000 construction apprentices annually and we have identified that we need around 225,000 new construction workers by 2027 to fill demand,' Rico Wojtulewicz, Head of Policy and Market Insight at NFB, told The Independent. While migration has been blamed as a contributing factor to the UK's housing crisis, Mr Wojtulewicz said, that in the short term, it was vital to delivering the government's 1.5million housebuilding target. 'Many say the solution is to train British workers and we should; however, it takes two to three years to get qualified and two further years of site experience to achieve a good level of competence,' he said. Mr Wojtulewicz said that while this would fix short term issues, 'the government must understand how apprentices come forward and are retained'. The trade body, which represents small and medium-sized contractors (SMEs), said small businesses are unable to afford to keep training apprentices because 'they have no work pipeline or are giving up because housebuilding isn't viable'. 'Labour must do more to accept and fix this legacy failure and put SMEs at the heart of growth, not just so we have a workforce to solve the housing crisis but so we can retrofit our 20million homes and deliver the capital and regional projects which underpin the Governments growth ambitions,' Mr Wojtulewicz added. The Home Builders Federation (HBF) have echoed Mr Wojtulewicz sentiment, saying skills shortages, an ageing workforce, and Brexit were among the key issues affecting the sector. The industry body added the sector has not 'attracted' enough recruits in recent years, saying a quarter of tradesmen are aged over 50. The industry's plea exposes the UK's reliance on foreign labour to meet key economic demands. The NHS also relies on migrants to staff the under-pressure health system. It also underscores the Labour government's pledge to reduce migration whilst simultanously meeting those demands. It comes as ONS figures suggested the UK population could reach 72.5 million by mid-2032 because of net migration, adding further pressure to the government's homebuilding targets. Keir Starmer has ruled out setting an 'arbitrary' cap to cut 'staggeringly high' migration, and Downing Street instead vowed the government would set out a 'comprehensive plan' to significantly reduce migration. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated the rise from 67.6 million in mid-2022 will be driven almost entirely by net migration, with the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving the country estimated to total 4.9 million over the 10-year period. Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp described the projection as 'shocking and unacceptable', adding: 'It can and must be stopped from materialising' as he called for a 'hard, binding legal cap on visas issued each year'. The ONS stressed the figures are projections – not predictions or forecasts – because they are based on current and past trends and there is always a level of uncertainty over how the numbers could change as time goes on. However, the think tank The Resolution Foundation said the new population projections should boost the size of the economy. The projections have revised expectations of the working-age population in 2029-30 by around 400,000. Based on previous scenarios from the OBR, the Resolution Foundation estimated that such an upward revision to the working-age population would boost forecast GDP by around 0.3 per cent – or £12 billion a year. A spokesman for the prime minister said the government would publish a white paper laying out a plan to end 'these staggeringly high migration numbers.' 'As the Prime Minister has previously said, we had a supposed cap in place before and it didn't have any meaningful impact on reducing immigration,' he said.
