About Health and Safety Software

Why the construction and builder industry need the Xpert health and safety software

In the UK, over 70 deaths a year occur on construction sites – of which a massive 70% are whilst working on small construction projects.

In addition, over 4000 major accidents are reported each year (fractures, amputations, unconsciousness, loss of sight, electric shocks etc), and that’s why the construction industry has set its own targets to reduce the rate of fatal and major injuries by 66% by 2009/10.

The HSE (Health & Safety Executive) are now focusing on small building companies and are undertaking thousands of random site inspections each year to accomplish this reduction. Inspections can happen at any time so you need to be prepared by ensuring your employees, contractors and the general public are safe on site at all times. In addition accidents on site cost UK construction companies literally thousands of £££’s in down time and injury claims so it is very important that companies take health and safety seriously.

Every company is legally obliged under specific Acts to demonstrate that it takes its responsibilities seriously and it has done as much as is reasonably practicable to safe guard employees, subcontractors and the general public.

Developed in partnership with a leading industry health and safety professional, Health & Safety Xpert™ software by HBXL will save you massive amounts of time producing paperwork legally required under current UK law as well as helping you avoid accidents or near misses by taking a more active, preventative approach to health and safety on site through the automatic production of checklists and registers including training records, equipment inspections, site inspections as well as internal health and safety audits.

Why do I have to bother and what will happen if I don’t?
What are my duties under law as an employer?
How much could I be fined if I don’t comply and what other penalties are there?
Isn’t my business too small?
Does CDM (Construction Design Management Regulations 2007) apply to me?
What are the main regulations I need to be aware of?
How easy is Health & Safety Xpert™?
What paperwork does Health & Safety Xpert™ produce and how will it help me?

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Why do I have to bother and what will happen if I don’t?

You may not realise just how much you need health and safety software Health & Safety Xpert™ by HBXL, but we recommend that you read on as all businesses have a duty of care to keep their employees and the public safe on site as well as legal requirements to undertake certain paperwork.

Non-compliance can attract massive fines (for all sizes of construction firms) as well as facing site shut down, criminal prosecutions and in some cases prison sentences if you are proved to be negligible.

Recent examples of fines described on the HSE’s own website include a £1500 penalty for ‘inadequate management of control of traffic’ to a £25,000 fine when a joiner was injured on site ‘when a joist failed under his weight.’

Thousands of random site inspections are now being conducted by the HSE p.a. on sites of all sizes to reduce the rate of fatal and major injuries by 66% by 2009/10 so it pays to keep everyone safe on site.

How much could I be fined if I don't comply and what other penalties are there?

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What are my duties under UK law as an employer?

The general duties under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 that employers have towards their employees and to members of the public can be summarised by the following:

• The health and safety of people at work
• Protection of other people affected by work activities
• The control of risks to health and safety from articles and substances at work
• The control of some atmospheric emissions

The employers’ main duties are to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety and welfare at work of all their employees. The degree of risk in a particular job or workplace needs to be balanced against the time, trouble, cost and physical difficulty of taking measures to avoid or reduce the risk. In particular:

• The provision of safe plant and systems of work
• The safe use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances
• The provision of any required information, instruction, training and supervision
• A safe place of work including access and egress
• A safe working environment with adequate welfare facilities

In addition, every employer and self-employed person is under a duty, so far as reasonably practicable, that persons not in their employment (and themselves for self-employed) who may be effected, are not exposed to risks to their health & safety.

This applies whether or not a person on site is treated as self-employed for tax and national insurance policies, they are nevertheless treated as an employee for health and safety purposes…

What are the main regulations I need to be aware of?
Does CDM (Construction Design Management Regulations 2007) apply to me?
Isn't my business too small?

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How much could I be fined if I don’t comply and what other penalties are there?

Under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 non-compliance can attract site shut down,  fines up to £20,000 and/or 6 months imprisonment – in certain limited cases this can be up to 2 years imprisonment.

Thousands of random site inspections are now being conducted by the HSE p.a. on sites of all sizes to reduce the rate of fatal and major injuries by 66% by 2009/10.

You can be fined or charged pre-emptively if there is seen to be ‘an accident waiting to happen’ on site even if one hasn’t actually happened.

Powers of Inspectors

Under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, inspectors have the authorization to enter premises at any reasonable time (or anytime in a dangerous situation), and to:

• Take a constable with them if necessary
• Examine and investigate
• Take measurements, photographs and recordings
• Take possession of or retain anything for examination or legal proceedings
• Require any person who can give information to answer questions and sign a statement
• Issue an Improvement Notice, which is a notice identifying a contravention of the law and specifying a date by which the situation must be remedied
• Issue a Prohibition Notice, which is a notice identifying and halting a situation which involves or will involve a risk of serious personal injury. A contravention need not have been committed. The notice can have immediate effect.

Offences

Formal enforcement powers include the issue of Improvement or Prohibition notices:

• Improvement notices tell you what the problem is and require things to put right within a certain time.  The Inspector would usually discuss the time limit with you and explain how to get it extended if there is good reason.
• Prohibition notices tell you what the problem is and require you to stop doing something until things are put right.  These are only issued if it is considered that there is a risk of serious injury.

Notices will contain, or have attached, an explanation of what you must do to comply. You are often allowed to use a different but equally effective alternative.  When notices are issued, a copy will be provided for any employees.  The law requires some notices to be put in a register, which is open to public inspection.  Failure to comply with a notice is a serious offence and is likely to lead to prosecution.

The laws that Inspectors enforce take account of the costs of what you are required to do.  This means that the action required must be in proportion to the risks concerned.

If you appeal against an Improvement Notice it is suspended until the appeal is heard.  A Prohibition Notice usually remains in force until the appeal is heard. An appeal form will be enclosed with either type of notice.

The Inspector can also decide to prosecute any company and/or individual breaking the law.  When an offence is committed by a corporate body with the knowledge, connivance or neglect by a responsible person, both that person and the body corporate are liable to prosecution.

Prosecution is more likely where there:

• is a blatant disregard for the law (particularly for economic reasons)
• is reckless disregard for the health and safety of workpeople and others
• have been repeated breaches of legislation and management is neither willing nor structured to deal adequately with these
• has been a serious accident or a case of ill-health arising from a substantial legal contravention

or where:

• a particular type of offence is prevalent in an activity or area
• a particular contravention has caused justifiable, serious public concern

 

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Isn’t my business too small?

Even small businesses have a duty of care to keep their employees and the public safe on site as well as legal requirements to undertake certain paperwork. For example:

• It is a legal requirement for every company to produce a Company Health & Safety Policy if you have 5 or more employees
• It is a legal requirement if you have 4 or more people on site at one time that for you to undertake and record a Risk Assessment for the job
• It is a legal requirement to notify the HSE of your non-domestic project on an F10 Form if it lasts more than 30 days - or more than 500 person days
• It is a legal requirement to record accidents and incidents on site on an Accident & Incident Record
• It is a legal requirement under CDM regulations to have an active Health & Safety Plan and that the customer should not allow your project to start without one
• It is a legal requirement under CDM 2007 regulations for companies of all sizes to ensure the competency of the tradesmen you hire - use our Contractor Questionnaire for this

Does CDM (Construction Design Management Regulations 2007) apply to me?
What are the main regulations I need to be aware of?

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Does CDM (Construction Design Management Regulations 2007) apply to me?

You may be wondering how your type of business and the work that you do fits into the distribution of responsibilities under CDM.

Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM) regulations apply to most common building, civil engineering and construction work including all demolition and dismantling work. They do not cover house occupiers carrying out work on domestic properties or instructing an architect or other professional.

HOW DOES CDM APPLY TO YOU?

• Part 1 is an introduction to the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007
• Part 2 covers general management duties which apply to all construction projects.
• Part 3 sets out additional management duties for notifiable projects (non-domestic projects lasting more that 30 working days or more than 500 person days).
• Part 4 applies to all construction work carried out on construction sites and covers physical safeguards needed to prevent danger.
• Part 5 includes other general issues, e.g. transitional arrangements from CDM 1994 to CDM 2007

A more detailed overview of Parts 2, 3 and 4 is given below.

PART 2 (ALL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS)

Clients' responsibilities:

• Check competence and resources of all appointees
• Ensure there are suitable management arrangements for the project
• Allow sufficient time and resources for all stages
• Provide pre-construction information to designers and contractors

Designers’ responsibilities:

• Eliminate hazards and reduce risks during design
• Provide information about remaining risks

Contractors’ responsibilities:

• Plan, manage and monitor own work and that of workers
• Check competence of all their appointees and workers
• Train own employees
• Provide information to their workers
• Comply with specific requirements in Part 4 of the CDM regulations
• Ensure there are adequate welfare facilities for their workers

Everyone’s responsibilities:

• Check own competence
• Cooperate with others and coordinate work
• Report obvious risks
• Comply with requirements of Part 4 of the CDM regulations for any work under their control

PART 3 (NOTIFIABLE PROJECTS)

The following applies to non-domestic projects lasting more than 30 working days or 500 person days (e.g. 50 people working for over 10 days). Such work must be notified to the HSE on form F10 (Revised). This advises the HSE of (amongst others):

• Exact address of the site
• Planned start date
• Clients’ details
• CDM Coordinator’s details
• Principal Contractor’s details
• A brief description of the project

Clients’ additional responsibilities:

• Appoint a CDM Coordinator
• Appoint a Principal Contractor
• Ensure construction phase does not start unless there are suitable welfare facilities and the construction phase plan is in place
• Retain access to the health and safety file
NB there must be a CDM coordinator and Principal Contractor until the end of the construction phase.

CDM Coordinator’s responsibilities:

• Advise and assist client with duties
• Notify HSE of the Project
• Coordinate health and safety aspect of the design work and cooperate with others involved in the project
• Facilitate good communication between client, designers and contractors
• Liaise with principal contractor regarding ongoing design
• Identify and obtain the information for the pre-construction information pack
• Prepare/update health and safety file

Designers’ additional responsibilities:

• Check client is aware of duties and that CDM Coordinator has been appointed
• Check HSE has been notified of the Project
• Provide any health and safety information needed for the health and safety file

Principal Contractors’ responsibilities:

• Plan, manage and monitor construction phase in liaison with contractors
• Prepare, develop and implement a written Health & Safety plan and site rules (Initial plan to be completed before the construction phase begins)
• Give contractors relevant parts of the plan
• Make sure suitable welfare facilities are provided from the start and maintained throughout the construction phase
• Check competence of all appointees
• Ensure all workers have site inductions, and any further information and training needed for the work
• Consult with workers
• Liaise with CDM coordinator regarding ongoing design
• Secure the site
• Check client is aware of duties and a coordinator has been appointed and HSE notified before starting work

Contractors’ additional responsibilities:

• Cooperate with Principal Contractor in planning and managing work, including reasonable directions and site rules
• Provide details to the Principal Contractor of any contractor whom he engages in connection with carrying out the work
• Provide any information needed to complete the health and safety file
• Inform the Principal Contractor of any problems with the plan
• Inform Principal Contractor of any reportable accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences

Pre-Construction Information Pack
The CDM Coordinator in conjunction with the client is responsible for ensuring that the pre-construction information pack is prepared in a convenient form and that relevant parts are provided to those involved in the design of the structure, and to every contractor (including the Principal Contractor). The contents will include (among other things):

• Description of project, including key dates and existing plans
• Clients’ considerations and management requirements including welfare provision, site security and hoardings, permit to work systems, fire precautions and any ‘no go areas’
• Environmental restrictions and existing on-site risks
• Significant design and construction hazards
• Description and format of the health and safety file

Construction Phase Health and Safety Plan
The Principal Contractor must draw up and develop this plan so that it is relevant to the work proposed, and sets out how health and safety is to be managed during the construction phase. The level of detail is to be proportionate to the risks involved in the project. These will include (among others):

• Description of project including key appointments, dates and programme details
• Management of the work including structure and responsibilities, goals, monitoring and review, contractor selection, site welfare, inductions and security, site rules and emergency procedures
• Arrangements for controlling risks including work at height, excavations, traffic, storage, plant and equipment
• The health and safety file including layout and format, information gathering and storage

Health and Safety File
The health and safety file is a record of information for the client or end user. The CDM Coordinator ensures that the file is produced and hand it to the client at the end of the project. It should include (among other things):

• A brief description of the work carried out
• Any residual hazards
• Key structural principals
• Hazardous materials
• Health and safety information about cleaning or maintenance
• Nature and location of significant services
• Information and as-built drawings of the structure

PART 4 (ALL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS)

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 gives employers, the self-employed and those who control the way in which construction work is carried out various duties including:

• Safe place of work
  • Safe access and egress to places of work
  • Safe places of work with adequate space for workers
  • That people are prevented from gaining access to unsafe access or workplaces
• Excavations are safe
  • Ensure that excavations do not accidentally collapse
  • Prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, a person from being buried or trapped by a fall of material
  • Support, so far as is reasonably practicable, the sides, roof or adjacent area to prevent a collapse
  • Provide suitable and sufficient equipment to support the excavation
  • Work on supports for an excavation only under competent supervision
  • Stop any person vehicle or equipment being near to an excavation where it is likely to cause collapse
  • Prevent any risk so far as is reasonably practicable, of injury from underground cables or services
  • Prevent persons, vehicle or plant, equipment or any accumulation of material falling into the excavation
• Fire & other emergencies
  • Provide unobstructed, properly signed emergency routes and exits to a place of safety
  • Set up appropriate emergency procedures with designated people
  • Make people on site familiar with procedures and test the procedures
  • Provide suitable signs to indicate the fire fighting equipment
• Welfare facilities
  • Provide sanitary and washing facilities with adequate supply of drinking water
  • Accommodation for clothing and changing facilities
  • Rest facilities
• Traffic routes & Vehicles
  • Organized so that vehicles and people can move safely
  • Organized so there is a separation between people and vehicles, or where this is not reasonably practicable, people are protected and warning of approaching vehicles is given
  • Vehicles can only be used where routes are free of obstructions, there is sufficient room or warning has been given to the driver
  • Suitable signs should be erected
• Training, Inspection and Reports
  • Construction work where training or technical knowledge is required to protect people shall only be carried out by competent people or under competent supervision
  • Where the work is part of an excavation make sure it is inspected before work and at specified intervals by a competent person
  • Reports of inspections must be produced by the competent person before the end of the working period

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What are the main regulations I need to be aware of?

There are many regulations that apply to construction health and safety but the main regulations are:

• Health & Safety at Work Act 1974
• The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM)
• Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) 2002
• Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations Act 1995

The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 describes the general duties that employers have towards their employees and to members of the public:

• The health and safety of people at work
• Protection of other people affected by work activities
• The control of risks to health and safety from articles and substances at work
• The control of some atmospheric emissions

The employers’ main duties are to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety and welfare at work of all their employees. The degree of risk in a particular job or workplace needs to be balanced against the time, trouble, cost and physical difficulty of taking measures to avoid or reduce the risk. In particular:

• The provision of safe plant and systems of work
• The safe use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances
• The provision of any required information, instruction, training and supervision
• A safe place of work including access and egress
• A safe working environment with adequate welfare facilities

The law requires that when more than five people are employed the employer must:

• Prepare a written general health and safety policy
• Set down the organization and arrangements for putting that policy into effect
• Revise and update the policy as necessary
• Bring the policy and arrangements to the notice of all employees

In addition, every employer and self-employed person is under a duty, so far as reasonably practicable, that persons not in their employment (and themselves for self-employed) who may be effected, are not exposed to risks to their health & safety.

The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 clarifies what employers are required to do to manage health and safety under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974

This law requires every employer to carry out a suitable & sufficient risk assessment. If there are 4 or more employees in the workplace, the significant findings must be recorded.

It applies the principal of prevention, through effective arrangements for health & safety (planning, organization, monitoring & review).

Every employer is obliged to appoint one or more competent persons to advise and assist in undertaking the necessary measures to comply with the relevant statutory requirements.

Information must be provided to staff on the risk assessment, risk controls, emergency procedures and the identity of people appointed to assist on health & safety matters. The information provided must take account the level of training, knowledge and experience of the employees.

When giving tasks to employees their capabilities with regard to health & safety must be taken into account. Employees must be provided with adequate health & safety training.

Young people (under 18) must be protected at work from risks to their health & safety that are the result of lack of experience, or absence of awareness of existing or potential risks or because they have not fully matured. A specific young persons’ risk assessment must be carried out.

Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM) regulations apply to most common building, civil engineering and construction work including all demolition and dismantling work. They do not cover house occupiers carrying out work on domestic properties or instructing an architect or other professional.

HOW DOES CDM APPLY TO YOU?

• Part 1 is an introduction to the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007
• Part 2 covers general management duties which apply to all construction projects.
• Part 3 sets out additional management duties for notifiable projects (non-domestic projects lasting more that 30 working days or more than 500 person days).
• Part 4 applies to all construction work carried out on construction sites and covers physical safeguards needed to prevent danger.
• Part 5 includes other general issues, e.g. transitional arrangements from CDM 1994 to CDM 2007

A more detailed overview of Parts 2, 3 and 4 is given below.

PART 2 (ALL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS)

Clients’ responsibilities:

• Check competence and resources of all appointees
• Ensure there are suitable management arrangements for the project
• Allow sufficient time and resources for all stages
• Provide pre-construction information to designers and contractors

Designers’ responsibilities:

• Eliminate hazards and reduce risks during design
• Provide information about remaining risks

Contractors’ responsibilities:

• Plan, manage and monitor own work and that of workers
• Check competence of all their appointees and workers
• Train own employees
• Provide information to their workers
• Comply with specific requirements in Part 4 of the CDM regulations
• Ensure there are adequate welfare facilities for their workers

Everyone’s responsibilities:

• Check own competence
• Cooperate with others and coordinate work
• Report obvious risks
• Comply with requirements of Part 4 of the CDM regulations for any work under their control

PART 3 (NOTIFIABLE PROJECTS)

The following applies to non-domestic projects lasting more than 30 working days or 500 person days (e.g. 50 people working for over 10 days). Such work must be notified to the HSE on form F10 (Revised). This advises the HSE of (amongst others):

• Exact address of the site
• Planned start date
• Clients’ details
• CDM Coordinator’s details
• Principal Contractor’s details
• A brief description of the project

Clients’ additional responsibilities:

• Appoint a CDM Coordinator
• Appoint a Principal Contractor
• Ensure construction phase does not start unless there are suitable welfare facilities and the construction phase plan is in place
• Retain access to the health and safety file
NB there must be a CDM coordinator and Principal Contractor until the end of the construction phase.

CDM Coordinator’s responsibilities:

• Advise and assist client with duties
• Notify HSE of the Project
• Coordinate health and safety aspect of the design work and cooperate with others involved in the project
• Facilitate good communication between client, designers and contractors
• Liaise with principal contractor regarding ongoing design
• Identify and obtain the information for the pre-construction information pack
• Prepare/update health and safety file

Designers’ additional responsibilities:

• Check client is aware of duties and that CDM Coordinator has been appointed
• Check HSE has been notified of the Project
• Provide any health and safety information needed for the health and safety file

Principal Contractors’ responsibilities:

• Plan, manage and monitor construction phase in liaison with contractors
• Prepare, develop and implement a written Health & Safety plan and site rules (Initial plan to be completed before the construction phase begins)
• Give contractors relevant parts of the plan
• Make sure suitable welfare facilities are provided from the start and maintained throughout the construction phase
• Check competence of all appointees
• Ensure all workers have site inductions, and any further information and training needed for the work
• Consult with workers
• Liaise with CDM coordinator regarding ongoing design
• Secure the site
• Check client is aware of duties and a coordinator has been appointed and HSE notified before starting work

Contractors’ additional responsibilities:

• Cooperate with Principal Contractor in planning and managing work, including reasonable directions and site rules
• Provide details to the Principal Contractor of any contractor whom he engages in connection with carrying out the work
• Provide any information needed to complete the health and safety file
• Inform the Principal Contractor of any problems with the plan
• Inform Principal Contractor of any reportable accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences

For further CDM regs info click here

Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) 2002 extends the steps required under risk assessments and a duty to deal with accidents and emergencies. COSHH covers most substances hazardous to health in workplaces and covers persons who maybe on the premises but not employed whether they are at work or not including visitors and contractors.

The seven basic steps include:

1. Assess the risks to health
2. Decide what precautions to be taken
3. Prevent or adequately control exposure
4. Ensure control measures are used and maintained
5. Monitor the exposure of employees to hazardous substances
6. Carry out appropriate health surveillance where necessary
7. Ensure employees are properly informed, trained and supervised

Basically no work may be carried out where employees are liable to be exposed to substances hazardous to health unless a suitable and sufficient risk assessment has been carried out including the steps needed to meet COSHH have been made. Where more than four employees are employed the significant findings must be recorded and steps taken to comply.

RIDDOR, or the ‘Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995’, places a legal duty on:

• employers;
• the self-employed; and
• those in control of premises;

to notify and report some work-related accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences to the relevant enforcing authority for their work activity.

You must keep a record of any reportable injury, disease or dangerous occurrence. This must include the date and method of reporting; the date, time and place of the event, personal details of those involved and a brief description of the nature of the event or disease.

The law requires the following work-related incidents to be reported to the Health & Safety Executive RIDDOR Incident Contact Centre (Tel. 0845 300 9923)*:

• deaths;
• major injuries;
• over-3-day injuries – where an employee or self-employed person is away from work or unable to work normally for more than 3 consecutive days;
• injuries to members of the public or people not at work where they are taken from the scene of an accident to hospital;
• some work-related diseases;
• dangerous occurrences – where something happens that does not result in an injury, but could have done;

Reportable major injuries are:

• fracture other than to fingers, thumbs or toes;
• amputation;
• dislocation of the shoulder, hip, knee or spine;
• loss of sight (temporary or permanent);
• chemical or hot metal burn to the eye or any penetrating injury to the eye;
• injury resulting from an electric shock or electrical burn leading to unconsciousness or requiring resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours;
• any other injury: leading to hypothermia, heat-induced illness or unconsciousness; or requiring resuscitation; or requiring admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours;
• unconsciousness caused by asphyxia or exposure to harmful substance or biological agent;
• acute illness requiring medical treatment, or loss of consciousness arising from absorption of any substance by inhalation, ingestion or through the skin;
• acute illness requiring medical treatment where there is reason to believe that this resulted from exposure to a biological agent or its toxins or infected material.

 

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How easy is Health & Safety Xpert™?

Health & Safety Xpert™ is incredibly easy and produces comprehensive documentation to help your company meet the requirements of UK Health and Safety legislation. Plus, if you use EstimatorXpress™ for your estimating, you can import jobs directly into Health & Safety Xpert™ and the software will automatically detect what documentation you may require making it even quicker! You can then check through the system’s suggestions, customise the documents to your own requirements and print the ones you want.

With the Health & Safety Xpert™ HBXL Support & Updates Package you get:

• FREE Updates to the very latest health and safety legislation
• FREE Software Updates & enhancements
• FREE Upgrades to New Editions
• FREE Telephone Assistance
• FREE Internet Support
• DISCOUNTS on other products in the HBXL range

If you would like more information on just how easy Health & Safety Xpert™ is click here or call the HBXL Team on 0870 850 2444.