There is an element of risk in every part of producing a building, but timescales and deadlines pressures can often have the biggest impact on risk on site.
Timescales and deadlines can have significant adverse impacts on the management of risk on site for a variety of reasons. This can include procurement delays, impacts on the programme, increased pressure to complete the work, less time for decision making and the consideration of health and safety on site, longer working hours and weekend working, and the potential for corner cutting.
When time constraints become an issue on site one of the first things to suffer is planning. The ability and resources available to carry out thorough, considered planning for health and safety management on site can be adversely affected.
The other important element of planning that should not be overlooked is planning for pre-construction. This is a critical element of the project and can set the tone for H&S management for the rest of the project. This is particularly relevant to refurbishment projects where cladding or elements of the external envelope are being replaced following the recommendations post-Grenfell.
Programme and timescales are critical to identify early, so everyone is aware of the detrimental effect time pressures can have on a project. There are things that planners need to consider even at the pre-construction stage.
CDM plays a significant role in reducing the impact of tight deadlines and pressures during install, removal or replacement of the external envelope. It is clearly recognised within CDM regulations the impact time has on a project and the consequent decisions that are made. It also places the responsibility on duty holders to think carefully about how they plan, design and manage a project – concepts not always adopted in the construction of the Grenfell Tower.
Clarity with CDM
CDM plays an important role in clarifying any grey areas that might arise during the design and build stages. The introduction of the role of the principal designer to take control of the pre-construction phase of a project at the initial stages of a project, brings with it statutory obligations for all of the key duty holders, and gives more clarity and cohesion to the process of communication and information gathering/sharing. We are also seeing clarification of the various roles in the courts; when the previous roles of planning supervisor and CDM co-ordinator have been less clear and where failures have occurred.
CDM regulations give guidance on the control measures that should be applied. This means we have a better understanding of what good design looks like and what the regulators and courts expect. It defines the principles of prevention that should be adopted and the hierarchy of control measures that impact on every aspect of the construction process.
The key areas of regulation
The key areas to consider when setting the standard for organisational safety is laid down in legislation, so we should always start there. The Health and Safety at Work Act and The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, CDM2015 and Approved Document B are the relevant documents; as well as ISO 45001, which gives further guidance on what is expected of organisations around the topics of leadership, safety management and worker participation. It clarifies and defines what is expected in terms of how organisations should manage health and safety.
“Creating a culture of risk awareness means from the very start of a project, every person involved has safety as a top priority.”
“It is critical to capture legacy issues in a form of a design risk register…”
ISO 45001 acknowledges the role of top management in relation to the OH&S Management System and to show commitment to achieving its aims, which are the provision of a safe workplace and to protect workers from injury and ill health.
The standard describes that leadership can be demonstrated by taking active responsibility and accountability for worker protection through a variety of measures at the planning, implementation and evaluation stages of the OH&S Management System.
Creating a culture of risk awareness means from the very start of a project, every person involved has safety as a top priority. This culture needs to be set as an example by top management. The Maturity Model created by Professor Patrick Hudson defines various types of approaches taken by organisations, defined as Generative, Proactive, Calculative, Reactive and Pathogenic. This approach sets the tone from the very top, so there is no ambiguity in terms of expectations. The lessons that have been learned from previous failures, including Grenfell Tower, the courts expect so much more of companies and their defined roles and responsibilities.
“Setting the Bar - The final report of the Competence Steering Group for Building a Safer Future’, published in October 2020 seeks to improve competence in construction and sets out recommendations on safer building practices in the wake of the Grenfell tower enquiry. It does this by recommending more effective leadership, robust safety management processes and demonstrable collaboration with stakeholders and the supply chain to increase efficiency and safety.”
Early thinking creates future safety
Control measures can be introduced at the design stage, but excellence comes from being well versed in these measures as early as project conception and pre-design. Clients and designers should think about how construction processes will work onsite as early as possible. This is particularly true of refurbishment such as cladding replacement. Very often during a refurbishment, there is little information about the existing structure, for example, what lies behind the cladding or how it is fixed to the building.
To avoid problems like this, it is important we compile and maintain detailed information for the end user from the very earliest stages. In practice, we use tools such as RAG list and defined designed gateways and handover procedures to quantify projects risks and track the mitigation and management control measures that can be provided to the controller of the building for future maintenance of the structure.
This is a crucial element of the design process and future safety, as the person undertaking the initial design might not be the person who carries out the detailed design in later stages, so a flow of detailed information needs to be maintained. An audit trail of design decision making should be documented and agreed upon from the very
outset by the client and the design team to provide certainty around the control measures that are expected to be implemented and areas where it might be difficult to mitigate/reduce hazards.
Management control measures to be adopted during the ongoing management of refurbishments need to be proportionate, robust and relevant. All key stakeholders need to be involved at the very outset and every project team member should give due consideration to how they are going to contribute to the process. There can be increased hazards associated with occupied buildings. Where, for example, access to a balcony for refurbishment work is needed during the summer months for several weeks at a time.
Best practice for the ongoing monitoring of hazards in the future includes recognising that any project will bring with it its own unique set of hazards – a new regime for cleaning, for example, or a different frequency of maintenance. It is critical to capture legacy issues in a form of a design risk register, where maintenance, cleaning, access, future use and dismantling are captured early on, then handed on to management and owners to use and add to, so it remains a live document throughout the life of the building.
“CDM plays an important part in clarifying any grey areas that might arise during the design and build stages.”
“CDM plays a significant role in reducing the impact of tight deadlines and pressures during install, removal or replacement of the external envelope.”