CONEXPO-CON/AGG and The Utility Expo have formed a multi-year partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to deliver construction-specific mental health education across North American worksites. The programme will embed AFSP’s evidence-based training modules on suicide risk, peer intervention and crisis response into toolbox talks, supervisor training and safety briefings. For contractors and asset owners, this signals growing expectation that mental health risk will be managed with the same structure and documentation as physical site safety.

HS2 contractors have completed the final slide of a 4,600t viaduct section across the M6, moving the structure into position without a full carriageway closure in what they describe as a UK first. The operation used incremental launching techniques to shift the preassembled deck over live traffic, relying on carefully sequenced night-time lane restrictions instead of total shutdowns. For future motorway-rail interfaces, the method signals wider scope to build major spans offline and slide them into place, cutting possession times and temporary works demands.

Bouygues Travaux Publics and Laing O’Rourke have pleaded not guilty to two alleged health and safety offences at EDF’s Hinkley Point C nuclear construction site, one involving a worker fatality. The cases, brought by the Office for Nuclear Regulation, relate to incidents during major civil works on the reactor complex, where heavy lifting operations, deep excavations and complex temporary works demand stringent CDM and nuclear site licence compliance. Contractors across UK megaprojects will be watching closely for any precedent on corporate liability for site safety management.