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Michael Rider doesn鈥檛 lead the carefree existence you might expect of a 23 year old just out of university. 鈥淏ecause it can be so dangerous on site, I don鈥檛 stay out with my friends when I have work the next day,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 like that 鈥� I don鈥檛 think they鈥檙e aware of how much responsibility I have for the guys on site.鈥�

Rider is a construction supervisor for Carillion, one of the many twentysomething s, site managers and construction managers who have the responsibility for other people鈥檚 safety weighing on their young shoulders. As Chris Tickel, a 26-year-old project engineer for Balfour Beatty, says: 鈥淢y friends complain they鈥檙e under pressure, but I think to myself, it鈥檚 not the end of the world. If I mess up at work, someone could die.鈥�

This responsibility is on top of their duty to master the technical side of the job and to deliver their first projects on time and on budget. The young managers are the first generation to have had the moral and practical importance of health and safety instilled in them since the beginning of their careers, but the pressure on them to identify every possible hazard can be hard to handle. David Wrench is a 28-year-old health and safety adviser at Costain. He says: 鈥淭he responsibility is always at the back of your mind, but if you thought about it too much, you wouldn鈥檛 sleep at night.鈥�

Kier site manager John Bolton, also 28, is no stranger to bouts of insomnia. 鈥淚 did have a series of sleepless nights a while ago. It was before the biggest job I鈥檝e been in charge of so far, which involved a road closure in central London and manoeuvring a 27m long steel truss over the top of a six-storey building, using a crane to 90% of its capacity. In construction you can reduce risks to a negligible factor, but things can go wrong that have gone unaccounted for. When my friends moan about the tedium of their office jobs, I just think, if they spent a day on a building site, it would open their eyes.鈥�

And it is not just the safety of site workers that managers need to worry about, as the deaths of a local resident and a crane operator after a crane collapse in Battersea in September tragically demonstrated. 鈥淎 few months ago I had to do a presentation to some kids at a nursery that was next to a site I was managing,鈥� recalls Michael Black, a 28-year-old site manager for contractor Morrison Construction Services. 鈥淚 showed them pictures of a building site and told them how dangerous they can be. If one of the fences wasn鈥檛 secure enough and one of them had run on to site, that would have been my responsibility.鈥�

Risk assessments and method statements are reassuring 鈥� but everybody knows they do not stop people cutting corners when under pressure. One of the most daunting aspects of the job for new site managers is that they鈥檙e in charge of experienced workers many years their senior. 鈥淚t takes confidence to deal with fairly large guys,鈥� says Wrench.

鈥淭he hardest thing is to challenge individuals,鈥� agrees Bolton. 鈥淵ou feel you鈥檙e fresh-faced and just out of college and guys who鈥檝e been working on sites for 20 or 25 years don鈥檛 like being asked to do things by people green to the industry. They started out before health and safety legislation 鈥� it鈥檚 not what they鈥檙e used to.鈥�

Rider鈥檚 experience has been different. He says it鈥檚 the younger guys who put up the biggest fight. 鈥淯sually the older a person is, the better they take it. They know through experience they should be doing it differently,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the younger kids, the labourers and joiners, who cause you the problems."

The talking cure

Bolton鈥檚 tip to young managers is to watch their tone. 鈥淭here are ways of asking people to do things. As a young person your approach must be respectful. You鈥檙e dealing with very skilled workers who鈥檒l always know when they鈥檙e doing something wrong. They鈥檒l take the risk when doing smaller jobs, like they鈥檒l step over a handrail, and when you say something, they鈥檒l say, 鈥楯ust a quick job, mate鈥�.鈥�

My friends complain that they鈥檙e under pressure, but I think to myself, it鈥檚 not the end of the world. If I mess up at work, someone could die

Don鈥檛 take on too much, advises Tickel. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about how you think about it in your own head,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚f you think your job is to boss them about, it will affect the way you talk to them. Your job is to manage them, not boss them about.鈥�

Rick Gray has plenty of suggestions for those new to the job. He鈥檚 25 and a for Bovis Lend Lease, but he also trains other people in health and safety management as part of the company鈥檚 鈥渋ncident and injury-free鈥� programme. 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at the human side of safety, which includes the way you approach situations,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚f you point your finger and shout in order to make somebody know they鈥檝e done something wrong, they鈥檒l immediately be defensive. They鈥檒l think, what does this guy know? But if you confront someone constructively and ask what鈥檚 missing, you鈥檒l get a much better response.

鈥淭he other week, a subcontractor stood on a scaffold board spanning the top rail of a mobile tower 鈥� he was using it as a hop-up to reach something. I told him to stop working and stopped the entire team of 15 or 20 and we discussed the risks of working at height. They agreed it was not worth putting themselves at risk in order to get a job done.鈥�

Not all managers in their first years of the job feel quite so confident about stopping 20 workers to have a safety chat 鈥� there is their employer鈥檚 time and money to think about. 鈥淚 had those concerns the first few times I stopped people,鈥� says Ewen Hunter, 29, site manager at HBG. 鈥淏ut taking 10 or 15 minutes to stop a group to reiterate why something they are doing is dangerous is time well spent 鈥� if someone is injured they鈥檒l be off work for days, weeks or more.鈥�

Wrench says it can be hard to convince new site managers that health and safety is their top priority. 鈥淪ometimes we really have to explain to them that they won鈥檛 get into trouble for stopping something.鈥�

Despite their initial nerves, all of the young managers had reassuring words for people embarking on their first job. Training helps, they say. All of them had taken either CITB-ConstructionSkills鈥� five-day site management safety training scheme or the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health鈥檚 four-day 鈥渕anaging safely鈥� course.

And however alone you might feel sometimes, your employer should be behind you. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e never left on your own,鈥� explains Hunter. 鈥淭he guy standing next to you has responsibility for health and safety, too.鈥�

Rider has only worked on site since August last year, but he has already got used to having responsibility: 鈥淥nce you鈥檝e taken that first step and made your voice heard, it becomes second nature.鈥�

鈥淏eing a construction manager is not an easy job,鈥� adds Gray, 鈥渂ut it is something you can learn.鈥� Which will come as some relief to those new site managers just experiencing their first sleepless nights.