Safety
For more than three decades, J. Carney Construction has been a specialist in reinforced concrete construction, civil engineering, groundworks, scaffolding, and plant services.
Our commitment to the safety of our teams, partners, community, and environment is unwavering. As a family-founded company, we’ve remained true to the values that shaped our origins, ensuring that every member of our team is treated with care and consideration.
COLLABORATION
QUALITY FIRST
INNOVATION
National Safe Digging Week
Every excavation carries a responsibility to protect people, infrastructure and the communities around the site. UK Government data records around 60,000 accidental utility strikes a year, causing injuries, service disruption and project delays, at an estimated direct and indirect cost of £2.4 billion. These numbers make the case for thorough planning, accurate asset information and safe digging practice on every job.
Carney Plant supports Safe Digging Week because numbers matter. 60,000 strikes a year is not an industry abstraction, it is avoidable risk on real sites. We back the initiative through training, best practice and the equipment choices we make every day.
“At Carney Plant, we are proud to support Safe Digging Week and the industry's commitment to reducing avoidable utility strikes. By promoting best practice, investing in training and encouraging a safety-first culture.
Our radar buckets prevent costly strikes
Our radar buckets use ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to identify buried utilities, pipes and cables before and during excavation. Operators can see what lies beneath the surface in real time, which removes guesswork, reduces strike risk and avoids the delays that come with unexpected finds.
Where other methods rely on records and assumption, GPR gives our operators evidence. That means less exploratory digging, fewer delays and better-informed decisions on site, which keeps costs down.
The cost of strikes on utilites
The costs
Strikes per year (est.)
Frequency
Annual cost
The causes
Inadequate suction excavation safety practices
Failure to make preliminary notifications or obtain utility maps
Insufficient locating and utlity surveying on-site
The latest kit - the latest safety features
The Kobelco CKE900G-3 crawler crane is built around operator and site safety: a hydraulic Moment Limiter, over-hoist prevention and clear sightlines from the cab.
- Load & winch control moment limiter (lmi)
- Over-hoisting prevention
- Extreme limit function
- Boom backstops
- Machine inclination sensor
- Over-swing preventative device
- Counterweight & assembly modes
- Ergonomics & visibility
- Cab design
- Tilting cab
SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTISE
Carney Construction is actively engaged as a subcontractor on the M3 Junction 9 improvement scheme, delivering key earthworks, excavation, and structural integration works.
A significant project milestone involved the excavation of approximately 4,000 cubic metres of predominantly chalk material, undertaken to enable the installation of precast culverts. These structures form an essential part of the project's drainage, water management, and long-term infrastructure resilience strategy.
According to updates published by Carney Construction, the excavation works were completed while maintaining high standards of safety, coordination, and teamwork, despite the challenges associated with working in sensitive chalk ground conditions.
Carney Construction continues to support the ongoing delivery of the scheme in collaboration with the principal contracting team, contributing to the project's overall progress and successful implementation.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
“Great construction starts with a focus on safety. It's not just policy; it's the cornerstone that keeps our team safe and our projects on track.
Our commitment extends beyond compliance with regulations, it is embedded in our company culture. We actively promote open communication, continuous improvement, and personal responsibility, empowering our teams to identify potential hazards, raise concerns, and contribute to safer working practices across every project.
Regular toolbox talks are conducted to reinforce safe working methods, communicate site-specific risks, and ensure that all personnel remain informed and engaged in maintaining high safety standards.
We also recognise the importance of effective site management in reducing risk. The use of clearly defined barriers, signage, and exclusion zones helps to separate personnel from hazardous activities, control access to work areas, and minimise the potential for accidents. This is particularly important during excavation works, where preventing utility strikes is critical to protecting people, infrastructure, and the reputation of both our clients and our business.
By putting safety first in everything we do, we strive to create a workplace where everyone returns home safely at the end of each day while delivering reliable, responsible, and high-quality services to our customers.
“Every project that Carney undertakes is executed with the utmost consideration for the well-being of our teams, partners, community and environment.
Quality Construction
At Carney, quality assurance is about ensuring every aspect of the projects we work on meets or exceeds the highest standards of quality and the absolute satisfaction for our customers.
To ensure we always maintain our quality standards, Carney is guided by core principles that impact every project we undertake and keep us focused on delivering the absolute best for our clients and partners.
1. Quality planning
We implement thorough quality planning processes designed to establish clear objectives, quality standards, and performance measures for every project. By following these processes, we ensure quality at every stage of the construction process, from initial design to final delivery.
2. Process Excellence
We strive to ensure quality is built in to every step of every process of a project. We always employ industry best practices and utilise the latest techniques to enhance both the efficiency and effectiveness of our operations.
3. Supplier and Material Selection
We carefully select the suppliers and materials we work with based on strict quality standards. By partnering with reputable suppliers who share our commitment to quality, we're able to ensure that our construction projects are completed using the highest quality materials on the market.
4. Quality and Material Selection
We conduct regular inspections and implement rigorous quality control measures at every stage of a project to identify and address any potential quality issues. By carrying out these precise checks, we ensure that all our work meets or exceeds project specifications and regulatory requirements.
FORS accreditation
FORS, the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme, sets a standard for vehicle operators that goes well beyond basic legal compliance, covering safety, efficiency and environmental performance on the road. It is the recognised benchmark for operators in the UK.
Carney Plant’s FORS accreditation means our fleet and drivers are independently assessed against that standard. For a customer, it is straightforward evidence that the plant arriving on site is operated to one of the most rigorous frameworks in the industry, with more than 4,700 operators accredited nationally.
Accreditations
