A collection of information about the significant health and safety
risks of the construction project which the
principal contractor will have to manage during the construction phase.
The
planning supervisor is responsible for ensuring that a pre-tender stage health and safety plan is prepared in such time as will enable the plan to be provided to any
contractor before arrangements are made for the contractor to carry out or manage construction work. The principal contractor is then required to develop the
health and safety plan before the work starts on site and keep it up to date throughout the construction phase.
Purpose of the plan
The plan serves three main purposes:
1) during its development, it helps the planning supervisor bring together all the health and safety design issues;
2) it plays a vital role in the tender documentation, enabling prospective principal contractors to be fully aware of the project's health, safety and welfare requirements, allowing a level playing field for tender submissions; and
3) it provides a template against which tender submissions can be measured, helping the planning supervisor to advise the client on the provision of resources for health and safety and to assess the competence of prospective principal contractors.
ContentsThe degree of detail required in the pre-tender stage health and safety plan and the time and effort involved in preparing it should be in proportion to the nature, size and level of health and safety risks involved in the project. Projects involving minimal risks will call for straightforward plans. Large projects or those involving significant risks will require more detail. The information will mainly come from the client and the
designers and can include:
1) nature of the project (location, nature of construction work, timescales, etc);
2) the existing environment (existing services, surrounding land use, ground conditions, etc);
3) existing drawings (available drawings of the structure and the
health and safety file if there is one);
4) the design (information on the significant risks which cannot be avoided);
5) construction materials (health hazards from construction materials which cannot be avoided);
6) site-wide elements (positioning of site access or egress points, location of unloading, layout and storage areas, traffic routes, etc);
7) overlap with the client's undertaking (particularly where construction work is to take place at the client's premises);
8) site rules (could include emergency procedures, permit-to-work rules, etc laid down by the client when work takes place at the client's premises);
9) continuing liaison (procedures for dealing with design work prepared for the construction phase).
