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Health & Safety

Construction Phase Plans

Principal contractors must draft a construction phase plan before site setup, detailing safety and site rules.

Construction Phase Plan Essentials

The principal contractor is responsible for developing the construction phase plan.

Role of Principal Contractor

The principal contractor is responsible for developing the construction phase plan.

Industrial Activity Considerations

The plan must consider specific industrial activities and potential risks on-site.

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Compliance with CDM 2015

Adhering to CDM 2015 regulations, the plan ensures safety and legal compliance.

Health & Safety

Construction Phase Plans

Schedule 3 of CDM 2015 details work activities with elevated risks, needing special attention.

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Chemical and Biological Risks

Address risks from hazardous substances requiring health monitoring.

Environmental and Height Dangers

Focus on risks from work in challenging environments and at heights.

Ionising Radiation and Power Lines

Implement controls for work involving ionising radiation and near high voltage lines.

Underground and Explosive Work

Specific measures for work in tunnels and with explosives are vital for safety.

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Why Testing is Important

Schedule 3 Work involving particular risks.

  • Work which puts workers at risk from chemical or biological substances constituting a particular danger to the safety or health of workers or involving a legal requirement for health monitoring.Work which puts workers at risk of burial under earth-falls, engulfment in swampland or falling from a height, where the risk is particularly aggravated by the nature of the work or processes used or by the environment at the place of work or site.
  • Work with ionising radiation requiring the designation of controlled or supervised areas under regulation 16 of the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999.
  • Work near high voltage power lines.
  • Work exposing workers to the risk of drowning.
  • Work on wells, underground earthworks, and tunnels.
  • Work carried out by divers having a system of air supply.
  • Work carried out by workers in caissons with a compressed air atmosphere.
  • Work involving the use of explosives.
  • Work involving the assembly or dismantling of heavy prefabricated components.

For single contractor projects, the contractor must ensure the construction phase plan is also drawn up.

When considering what information to include in the Construction Phase Plan, the emphasis is that it:  is relevant to the project and has sufficient detail to clearly set out the arrangements, site rules and special measures needed to manage the construction phase. But it is still proportionate to the scale and complexity of the project and the risks involved.

The plan should not include documents that get in the way of a clear interpretation of what is needed to manage the construction phase, such as generic risk assessments, records of how decisions were reached or detailed safety method statements.

The following list of topics should be considered when drawing up the plan though not exhaustive:

  • A description of the project such as key dates and details of key members of the project team.
  • The management of the work including:
  • The health and safety aims for the project.
  • The site rules.
  • Arrangements to ensure cooperation between project team members.
  • And coordination of their work, eg regular site meetings.
  • Arrangements for involving workers.
  • Site induction.
  • Welfare facilities.
  • Fire and emergency procedures.
  • The control of any of the specific site risks listed in schedule 3 where they are relevant to the work involved.

What must duty holders do?

The client

The client must ensure a construction phase plan is drawn up before the construction phase begins. For projects involving more than one contractor, the principal contractor is responsible for establishing the plan or for making arrangements for it to be drawn up.

The designer

The designer has no specific duty in relation to the construction phase plan. However, the designer must take all reasonable steps to provide with the design sufficient information about aspects of the design to help contractors (including principal contractors) to comply with their duties.

The principal designer

The principal designer must help the principal contractor to prepare the construction phase plan by providing any relevant information they hold.

The principal contractor

For projects involving more than one contractor, the principal contractor must take the lead in preparing, reviewing, updating, and revising the construction phase plan.

They must draw up the plan or make arrangements for it to be drawn up during the pre-construction phase and before the construction site is set up.

The contractor

For projects involving more than one contractor, the contractor must follow the parts of the construction phase plan prepared by the principal contractor that are relevant to their work.

*Source of information: Managing health and safety in construction L153 Published 2015

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