QE engineers through to national final

QE engineering students have progressed to the national final of a prestigious construction industry competition with their idea for a dust-beating, water-fed broom.

The Year 12 team won the Health & Safety category in the South East Regional Final of the Constructing Excellence 2015 competition.

Pupils William Forrester, Alexander Norcliffe, Mitul Shah and Daniil Slavin developed the broom to reduce the problem of dust on construction sites as part of the Engineering Development Trust’s sixth-month Engineering Education Scheme in conjunction with Lovell Construction.

Representatives of the Trust and Lovell attended a special presentation of the Regional Award at the School.

Lovell business systems manager Alex Wood said: “The brief was simple: ‘can you improve on the everyday broom to improve health and safety?’ We asked the students if they could come up with a better way of controlling dust on site – which can be a serious health hazard for construction workers – and produce a practical solution which would be affordable to produce.”

After carrying out research and experiments and collaborating with Lovell’s small tool and equipment suppliers, the students devised a prototype broom incorporating a controlled water mist. 

“The initiative was designed to encourage innovation and research and enabled the students to see how their school studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics feed into creating practical solutions,” said Mr Wood. “It’s also a way of giving young people a clearer understanding of the industry and of the health hazards which construction workers face.”

Michael Noonan, the Technology teacher who oversaw the boys’ participation in the scheme said: “The competition is run by the Institution of Occupational Safety & Health [IOSH], the world’s largest H&S organisation. Winning the Health & Safety category is a great achievement.”

For the national final, the boys will be expected to make two further presentations to the IOSH in October – one at Millwall Football Club and the other at The Victory Services Club . The winners will be announced at a special event at the London Marriott Hotel, also in October.