Construction and housing: safety record

Key facts

Construction has the highest number of workplace deaths of any sector in Great Britain, and falls from height account for around half of them.
CDM 2015 governs every project: named duty holders, a construction phase plan on every job, and F10 notification above the thresholds.
Housing development multiplies the subcontractor interfaces and puts the public next to the work; real RAMS, real inductions and prescribed inspections are what an inspector looks for after an incident.

The sector

Health and safety in construction and housing

Construction remains the sector with the highest number of workplace deaths in Great Britain, and falls from height account for around half of them. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 are the framework: the client, principal designer and principal contractor carry named duties, every project needs a construction phase plan, and larger projects are notified to the HSE on an F10.

On site the risks are well known and still kill people: work at height, excavations and temporary works, moving plant and vehicles, structural collapse during demolition and refurbishment, silica dust, asbestos in pre-2000 buildings and manual handling. The controls are known too, which is why HSE inspectors treat a fall from an unprotected edge as a failure of management, not luck.

Housing development adds its own pattern: many small sites or one large one built in phases, a long tail of subcontractors, plots handed over while others are still being built, and the public living next to the work. What separates a well-run site from a lucky one is the paperwork being real: RAMS that describe the actual task, inductions and toolbox talks that reach the people doing it, inspections at the intervals the regulations set, and a principal contractor who knows what every subcontractor is doing that day.

The record

What Stephen has delivered in construction and housing

Specialist health and safety support to clients, designers and principal contractors on commercial and housing projects since 2011, from demolition and groundworks through to completion.
Eighteen months seconded to a national housing contractor as health, safety and environmental manager, responsible for between three and nine live construction sites at a time: inspecting and supporting each site team, monthly board reporting, incident investigations, subcontractor assessment and the management of high-risk activities.
Reviewing high-risk risk assessments and safe systems of work, approving subcontractor competence and leading accident investigations for principal contractors.
CITB Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS), Temporary Works Coordinator training and a CSCS black card as a health and safety manager; SMSTS, SSSTS and Health and Safety Awareness delivered as a CITB trainer.

Disciplines

The disciplines applied here

CDM 2015 and constructionSpecialist support to clients, designers and principal contractors under CDM 2015, on commercial and housing projects from groundworks to completion.Read more Temporary works and high-riskTemporary works coordination and the management of high-risk activities: excavations, groundworks, concrete frames, work at height and demolition.Read more Contractor managementAssessing subcontractor competence, supporting subcontractors on live sites, and the pre-qualification, induction and monitoring behind contractor control.Read more Risk assessments and RAMSSuitable and sufficient risk assessments under regulation 3, safe systems of work and method statements for high-risk work, and COSHH training.Read more Inspections and auditsSite and premises inspections with reports and closeout, compliance auditing and gap analysis, for construction, retail and process clients since 2011.Read more Accident investigationInvestigations led and managed through to closeout, RIDDOR reporting, and the evidence a business needs when the regulator or an insurer asks.Read more Training and coursesCITB, IOSH and NEBOSH courses delivered, from the Directors’ Role and SMSTS to Managing Safely and the NEBOSH Certificates, plus bespoke training.Read more

Places

Where construction and housing work was done

Guides

Guides that apply

ManagementThe health and safety policy: what the law requires and what a good one containsSection 2(3) of the 1974 Act, the five-employee threshold, the three parts of a policy, the arrangements section inspectors read first, and who signs it.Read more IncidentsAccident investigation: finding the root cause, not the person to blameThe HSG245 four-step approach, immediate, underlying and root causes, what RIDDOR requires and when, and the evidence to secure in the first hour.Read more

Questions about construction and housing safety

What are the biggest health and safety risks on a construction site?

Falls from height, being struck by moving plant or vehicles, structural collapse, contact with electricity, and the long-term harm from silica dust, asbestos and noise. Falls from height alone account for around half of construction deaths in a typical year.

Does CDM 2015 apply to domestic projects?

Yes. A domestic client’s duties pass to the contractor on a single-contractor project, or to the principal contractor where there is more than one, unless the client agrees in writing that the principal designer will carry them. The contractors’ own duties, including the construction phase plan, apply in full.

What does a health, safety and environmental manager do on a housing development?

Inspects each site and supports its team, reviews and challenges RAMS before high-risk work, assesses and supports subcontractors, investigates incidents, manages the high-risk activities across every live site, and reports to the board on where the programme stands. On a multi-site programme that means keeping three, six or nine sites to the same standard at once.

Construction and housing development