roles & responsibilties of health and safety in construction

Designers must also provide adequate information about any significant risks associated with their design and co-ordinate their work with that of others in order to improve the way in which risks are controlled. They must make sure that they are competent and adequately resourced to address the health and safety issues likely to be involved in the design, designers are often the first point of contact for a client. The CDM Regulations 2007 require designers to check that clients are aware of their duties under the Regulations. It is the responsibility of the designer who has the initial contact with the client. Early appointment of the CDM Co-ordinator is crucial for effective planning and establishing management arrangements from the start. The regulations require the appointment to take place as soon as is practical after initial design work or other preparation for construction work has begun.

Once the CDM Co-ordinator has been appointed, the designer will need to co-operate with them and provide the information that CDM Co-ordinators need to comply with their duties. Designers must ensure; that the client has appointed a CDM Co-ordinator, that the HSE has been notified that they do not start design work other than initial design work unless a CDM Co-ordinator has been appointed, designers must co-operate with the CDM Co-ordinator, the principal contractor and with any other designers or contractors as necessary for each of them to comply with their duties, they must also provide any information needed for the Pre-construction Information Pack and the Health and Safety File. (Notifiable projects only)

CDM Co-ordinators must; give suitable and sufficient advice and assistance to clients in order to help them to comply with their duties, in particular the duty to appoint competent designers and contractors and the duty to ensure that adequate arrangements are in place for managing the project, they have to notify HSE about the project, co-ordinate design work, planning and other preparation for construction where relevant to health and safety, identify and collect the pre-construction information and advise the client if surveys need to be commissioned to fill significant gaps, promptly provide in a convenient form to those involved with the design of the structure and to every contractor (including the principal contractor) who may be or has been appointed by the client, such parts of the pre-construction information which are relevant to each, manage the flow of health and safety information between clients, designers and contractors, they must advise the client on the suitability of the initial construction phase plan and the arrangements made to ensure that welfare facilities are on site from the start, to co-ordinate the production or updating of a relevant, user friendly, health and safety file suitable for future use at the end of the construction phase. Clients are responsible for appointing competent and adequately resourced designers and contractors including Principal Contractors. Most clients, particularly those whose involvement with construction work is limited or non-existent, will not have the expertise necessary to assess the competency and resources of designers and contractors. A competent CDM co-ordinator will have this knowledge and expertise, and they should assist clients with these assessments.

The principal contractor who is appointed by the Client his roles and responsibilities are very important as with all health and safety regulations, he will take account of the specific requirements of the project when preparing and presenting tender documents, they need to ensure that client is aware of duties, the CDM co-ordinator has been appointed and HSE notified, that those they appoint are competent, the construction phase is properly planned, managed, monitored and resourced, inform contractors of the minimum time allowed for planning and preparation, provide relevant information to contractors, ensure safe working, co-ordination and co-operation between contractors, construction phase health and safety plan is prepared and implemented; the plan needs to set out the organisation and arrangements for managing risk and co-ordinating work and should be tailored to the particular project and risks involved, suitable welfare from the start, prepare and enforce site rules as required, give reasonable direction to contractors including client appointed contractors, prevent unauthorised entry to the site, provide a plan to those who need it, promptly provide the CDM co-ordinator with information for the file, liaise with CDM co-ordinator in relation to design and design changes, ensure all workers have been provided with suitable health and safety induction, information and training, ensure the workforce is consulted about health and safety matters and display key project information to workers.

Sub-contractors appointed by any other duty holder, also play a huge part in health and safety, they have to put in practice all of the health and safety requirements on site, their responsibilities are; Organisation and Arrangement, sub-contractors will need to provide the following:

* Copy of your Health and Safety Policy.

* Name, qualifications and contact details of your health and safety advisor.

* Name and contact details of your Director/Manager directly responsible for health and safety matters.

* Name of your Manager/Supervisor responsible for health and safety on site.

Risk assessments are required for the work for which you are responsible, along with safe systems of work as appropriate are required, a copy of the temporary works proposals and design calculations where temporary works are involved (below or above ground) and COSHH Risk Assessments. Competence & Training - evidence of competence and training for managers, supervisors, trades and operatives, in accordance with relevant registration schemes is required and also evidence of project specific training and competencies. Plant and Equipment require inspection certification, evidence of testing (3 monthly) of electrically operated portable tools, which are normally restricted to 110volts, recognition of your responsibility under the Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER), scaffolding, access systems, mobile towers, etc erected by competent trained personnel in accordance with Construction Industry Scaffolders' Record Scheme (CISRS) where appropriate. Cooperation, Coordination & Communication refers to the compliance with the principal contractor's coordination and communication procedures, induction training, toolbox talks and provision of information on all matters likely to cause danger, control over numbers of personnel on site at all times, compliance by all personnel with site rules, consultation arrangements with all levels of the workforce, immediate reporting of accidents, near misses, incidents of ill health etc. to the principal contractor, provision of relevant information for inclusion in the Health and Safety File, strict disciplinary procedures for non-compliance with safety requirements. Health & Welfare includes the provision of adequate and suitable welfare facilities, disciplinary procedures to manage abuse of drugs and alcohol on site and to control incidents of violent or threatening behaviour, compliance with working time regulations, training, instruction and supervision arrangement for young persons on site, prohibition of persons under 16 years of age on site without specific authorisation. Also specific notification and permission must normally be obtained for; work to be undertaken outside normal working hours, including weekends, sub-letting any part of the work packages, individuals on site who have communication difficulties and also evidence must be provided that health and safety management issues for such persons.

Legislations are imposed to make the building site a much safer place to work, one of these legislations is The Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996, which states that every employer whose employees are carrying out construction work and every self-employed person carrying out construction work to comply with the provisions of these Regulations insofar as they affect him or any person at work under his control or relate to matters which are within his control, every person who controls the way in which any construction work is carried out by a person at work to comply with the provisions of these Regulations as they relate to matters which are within his control, every employee carrying out construction work to comply with the requirements of these Regulations as they relate to the performance of or the refraining from an act by him, as regards any duty or requirement imposed on any other person under these Regulations, to co-operate with that person so far as is necessary to enable that duty or requirement to be performed or complied with, where working under the control of another person, to report to that person any defect which he is aware may endanger the health or safety of himself or another person,

The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 also another piece of legislation which must be obeyed, also referred to as HASAW or HSW, it is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in the United Kingdom. The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for enforcing the Act and a number of other Acts and Statutory Instruments relevant to the working environment, the duties of the employees are as follows, as long as there are employees who continue to be at work, even if working to rule during a period of industrial action, such employees have a duty under section 7 of the Act to take care of their health and safety, and the health and safety of their colleagues, and to co-operate to the extent necessary to enable the employer to comply with his duties under the Act. This could include maintaining or co-operating in the maintenance of safety equipment such as breathing apparatus or fire fighting equipment, since neglect of these could result in danger to employees or to the emergency services. In most cases it should be possible for the employer to secure adequate co-operation in safety matters, so that it will rarely be necessary for inspectors to consider enforcement action under section 7. No duty under section 7 can arise when an employee is not at work, for example when he is on strike. However, he continues to have duties under section 7 up to the time that he ceases to be at work, so that, for example, an operator of dangerous machinery could be in breach of section 7 if he goes on strike without taking reasonable measures to ensure that the machinery can be safely left unattended, he could not, however, be held responsible for hazards arising from lack of attention during the time he is on strike, since this would be considered to be the employer's responsibility. It should be noted that under section 8, not intentionally or recklessly to interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interest of health, safety or welfare, is placed on all persons regardless of their employment status.

Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 covers both 'software' which apply to all work equipment and 'hardware' which applies to some work equipment in certain circumstances depending on when it was supplied, PUWER 1998 should not be considered in isolation. The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1992 requires a risk assessment to be carried in order to identify the measures that should be taken to comply with relevant legislation. This should ensure, for example, the selection of suitable work equipment under PUWER 1998 and the identification of the control measures necessary to prevent access to dangerous parts for older machinery. No duties are placed on employees by PUWER 1998. However, the requirements of the Management Regulations are that employees should use all work items provided by their employer correctly. These requirements are in addition to HSW Act.

The members of the construction team need to interact with each other on all types of project, this ensures there is no confusion as to who is doing what and so that different companies do not get in each others way etc. All site engineers are responsible for their own health and safety while on any construction project, although they do report to people who are in greater positions of responsibility. A site engineer would report to their manager at their own company or the site manager if there are any infringements in health, safety and welfare legislation, the site manager/foreman will then inform his manager or the health and safety executive who will then assess the problem and decide upon the correct action to take.

All companies must provide any relevant information to one another to ensure everybody knows exactly what they can and can't do, this starts form the client providing information to the designer eg. information about the actual site, the designer will then pass this information to the principal contractor and so on. This ensures there are no health and safety risks etc.

Bibliography

* http://www.tendringdc.gov.uk/TendringDC/Business/Health+and+Safety/indg244x.htm

* http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1996/Uksi_19961592_en_1.htm

* http://www.hse.gov.uk/legislation/hswa.htm

* http://www.goddardconsulting.co.uk

* http://www.edp-uk.com

- 1 -