Safety in Action: Awareness, Demonstrations & Hazard Hunts Across Regions
“All in Together” is this year’s theme for Construction Safety Week, and at Onnec we are proud of the strong safety culture we maintain across all customer sites. Through close collaboration with our customers, contractors, and partners across the supply chain, safety remains a shared responsibility and a daily priority for all of us.
Construction Safety Week is an important opportunity for everyone to pause, reflect, and recommit to what matters most, protecting our people and those we work alongside. This is especially critical on high-risk data centre construction sites, where scale, complexity, and critical infrastructure come together. As global demand continues to grow, maintaining the highest standards of health and safety is essential not only for compliance, but for business continuity, reputation, and long-term success.
Throughout the week, our teams will be visiting customer sites across England, Ireland, Wales, and the Nordics, delivering awareness presentations, practical demonstrations, and even the occasional safety hazard hunt.
Sessions will bring together customer teams, subcontractors, and Onnec personnel, reinforcing a shared commitment to safer working environments. We will also take time to review recent learning, share experiences, and reflect on incidents to continuously improve how we work.
Success as a Health & Safety officer comes from making our sessions as interactive as possible—covering not only technical training, but also first aid and mental health—so that everyone is engaged, informed, and supported
Oran O’Kane, Global HSE Manager
Some of the topics being covered this week:
Electrical safety training
Electrical safety training is essential in data centres due to high-voltage systems, generators, UPS equipment, and battery rooms. Failures in isolation, lockout/tagout, or rushed commissioning can cause serious injury or fatalities.
This training covers identifying hazardous areas, selecting correct PPE, understanding safety boundaries, interpreting warning labels, and following safe work practices. Key controls included verifying isolation, using permits, maintaining communication, and stopping work if conditions are unsafe.
Working at height
Raised floors, overhead containment systems, cable trays, and rooftop plant rooms involve work at height risks. At the same time, sub‑floor voids, service corridors, and plant rooms can introduce confined space hazards if not properly assessed and controlled. This will be a comprehensive look at the skills and knowledge needed to work at height and prevent falls.
Hierarchy of Control
Hierarchy of Control training is a safety framework that teaches construction workers and managers to prioritise the most effective methods for eliminating or reducing workplace hazards. It is structured as an inverted pyramid, guiding users to start with physical removal of a hazard before relying on human-dependent measures like Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Other topics to be addressed will be fatigue management, manual handling, arc flash training, Lone working, hydration and workplace ergonomics.
A varied list of topics coupled with identifying and rewarding safety stars on site and operating drills and first aid incident tests makes it a busy week for the Health and Safety team.
While Construction Safety Week highlights these efforts, safety is not a one-week initiative. Our teams work every day to strengthen safety culture through visible leadership, site engagement, and regular safety walks. In fast-paced data centre environments with multiple contractors and evolving works, strong communication between construction and live operations is essential.
Every day is a health and safety day – we must
- Protect workers, contractors, and visitors
- Prevent service disruption or reputational damage
- Support compliance with strict regulatory requirements
- Reinforce a culture of accountability and professionalism
Above all, our best practices help to ensure that everyone goes home safely at the end of each day.
