A stark warning that someone will be killed unless more care is taken over the delivery of roof trusses was delivered to members of the Trussed Rafter Association (TRA) last week.

Speaking at the association’s AGM, Dr Alan Scobbie of the Health and Safety Executive‘s (HSE) manufacturing sector said he was aware of several serious accidents recently, and that a fatality could happen.

Deliveries and collections were the most dangerous activities the truss rafter industry had to deal with. “Injuries may result from manual handling, lifting equipment, moving vehicles, or falling from vehicles,” he said.

And, he warned, if an accident occurred, people in the chain – which included the supplier sending the goods, the carrier and the recipient – could be asked to show they had taken reasonable steps to achieve safety.

Patrick Martin, chairman of the TRA’s safety committee, said that the operations of loading, transporting and unloading were handled by three sectors of the HSE. “We would like to see national consistency,” he said, “with mutual understanding between truss fabricators, hauliers and builders – plus co-operation with the HSE.

“We need to have very clear contracts detailing responsibilities and we are aiming to get a definitive document which will say ‘in co-operation with the HSE’.”

Chain of custody

Giving a presentation about chain of custody certification, Alasdair McGregor, product/timber business manager at BM TRADA Certification, said: “Certification is an issue that is in our faces, and we have to do something about it.”

He outlined the development of certification, which started with the creation of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) which, Mr McGregor said “enjoys a huge amount of oxygen courtesy of the environmental groups”.

But, said Mr McGregor, the label of choice for the truss rafter industry was PEFC – the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes – and there could be problems ahead.

“What is driving your wheels as far as specification of certified timber is concerned is the government,” he said.

But the Central Point of Expertise in Timber (CPET), set up to provide information and to support the government’s timber procurement policy, recently did a comparative analysis survey which concluded that the FSC and CSA schemes were proof of sustainability, giving them priority over other schemes, including PEFC, which were only classed as legal.

And this, said Mr McGregor, could lead to interesting times. “We are more than halfway through a six-month response period and PEFC is confident it can address the comments made against them and that, come April, it will go up to the same status as FSC.

“PEFC and FSC currently have equal recognition with EcoHomes which encourages greater use of sustainable building materials, and its points rating system can be turned into real cash. But all that could change after the CPET report. If PEFC doesn’t get the same status as FSC, then anybody in a position to supply FSC will attract more points than PEFC.

“Because of your industry, you are PEFC supplied, so if PEFC cannot persuade Defra that they are as good as FSC it will be interesting to see how this issue develops.”

In the long run, Mr McGregor said, certification had many advantages. It gave market retention and access, a good corporate image and branding, a price premium, improved management systems and environmental benefits.

Industry reputation

Outgoing TRA chairman Wally Shaw said the association’s reputation as an industry association had been enhanced and would continue to grow.

But members were warned against apathy by incoming chairman Mike Beale. He said: “I find it sad that we couldn’t find another member to chair the association,” and added that the net would be cast wider to try and attract more companies to join.

TRA standards consultant Dr Luke Whale talked members through current and changing European codes and standards which, he said, presented both opportunity and threat.

“Other people will come into your market with a different, and possibly better, product.”

But he told members that if they had a quality assurance system in place, they could CE mark their trusses. “You can differentiate yourselves as manufacturers, which nobody else can do. But I haven’t heard any dialogue about that in this association – why aren’t you as an industry making it your policy to say you can CE mark?”