Safety packs > Concrete, cement and mortar

Concrete, cement and mortar

Wet cement trapped against the skin, by a wet knee, a filled boot or a glove, can cause a serious burn, and contact with it causes dermatitis. As the employer you have to assess it, control it, train your people and be able to show it. This pack is the paperwork for that.

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The hazard

For anyone who mixes, barrows, lays, floats or trowels concrete, cement or mortar, from a drum mixer or a ready-mix delivery: footings, slabs, drives, block and brick laying. It also covers anyone working around shuttering or falsework before a pour, or near a concrete pump during one.

Wet cement is highly alkaline and causes chemical burns and dermatitis. If it is trapped against the skin, for example by kneeling in it or when it gets into a boot or glove, a serious burn or ulcer can develop rapidly, and these often take months to heal.

The pack covers:

The law that applies

What is in the pack

One hazard, done completely.

Implementation guidethe legal position and the order to do it in
Risk assessmentevery hazard and control, ready to make site-specific
Safe system of workthe one to put up where the work happens
Inspection and monitoring recordpre-pour formwork and falsework checks, and periodic review
Training delivery packthe session your own supervisor delivers
Theory test candidate paperblank, to be answered in ink
Practical assessment recordon a real pour or mortar job, on your site
Written authorisationnames the person and the equipment or task
Toolbox talkswith attendance sheets
Register and refresher trackerwho is trained, who is authorised and when each person is due a refresher
Answer key

The theory test answer key goes to the employer only, separately from the pack, so your supervisor marks the test against it and candidates never see it. That keeps the test a genuine assessment.

An optional verified certificate per person

Available where a customer, principal contractor or insurer wants your training records checked by someone outside your firm.

You assess your own people in-house using the pack and send PHW the completed records. PHW checks them and issues a certificate only where they hold up. Each certificate carries a QR code: scan it and a live verification page confirms the certificate. The certificate states that the assessment was carried out in-house and verified by PHW.

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Up to four of your people assessed for competence in one day, on your own site and machines, with minimum downtime. Plus a written safe-system pack for each topic.

PHW has certificated thousands of candidates nationwide, for multinationals and small firms alike.

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Real cases

HSE prosecutions in this line of work.

Construction and civils · Oldham

Oldham Business and Construction Management Limited fined £30,000 after a floor overloaded with concrete blocks and not built to the manufacturer's design collapsed under a bricklayer

£30,000 + £4,883 costs · 2026-08-11

An overloaded upper floor collapsed beneath a bricklayer, causing a fall and fracturing a leg, hip and hand.

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Roofing · Seahouses

Len Smith & Son Building Contractors Limited fined £20,000 after a bricklayer fell through a fragile roof sheet

£20,000 + £5,744 costs · 2026-08-06

A bricklayer fell around eight feet through a polycarbonate roof sheet during farm repairs, fracturing vertebrae and a sternum.

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Manufacturing and engineering · Sharpness

Dragon Alfa Cement Limited fined £1,000,000 after a worker was crushed to death by a 1.6-tonne concrete weight

£1,000,000 + £9,621 costs · 2026-07-21

Routinely removed machine guarding gave unrestricted access to a 1.6-tonne concrete weight that crushed an employee to death.

Read the case →

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