Posted By Claire C Dear All, I am looking for some advice. The company i work for are the Principal Contractor. We have three subcontractors who require to excavate within our CDM Area. The subcontractors possess the expertise to carry out the excavation work and have the appropriate qualifications (i.e. to use CAT etc). The procedure for issuing permits is as follows - we, the Principal Contractor, issues the Permit to Excavate to our subcontractor. Once received the subcontractor then issues out their own Permit to Dig to their operatives. Our Permit to Excavate is held in a file within the subcontractors site office. However whilst carrying out safety inspections on site recently i found a subcontractor digging with two permits in their posession (ours and theirs), on another site i found the subcontractor digging with their own permit to dig on site and on another visit i found the subcontractor digging with our Permit to Excavate on site. Obviously the procedure in place is not working effectively, and under no circumstances should anyone be working with two permits in their posession as this is not only confusing to the operatives but also dangerous. We, the Principal Contractor, do not have much experience when it comes to issuing Permits to Excavate, however our subcontractors do. In fact one of our subcontractors must undergo specific training on issuing permits and has been interviewed to assess his competence. We, on the other hand have received no such training. With respect to the advice i require - in order to best control the work being undertaken, should we, the Principal Contractor, issue the permits and expect only our permit to be on site - or - should would it be deemed acceptable for us to issue our own Permit to Excavate to the subcontractor and then for the subcontractor to issue their own for the site as per their own HS&E management procedures? Your advice on the above would be greatly appreciated. Kind regards Claire C

Posted By Ian Waldram I suggest there's no fundamental reason for the PC to issue all permits, thouh it can be done that way. Alternatively, if the sub-contractor is the one with all the relevant excavation competences, what they need is: a) permission from the PC to dig in a particular area, confirming the PC has thought about possible clashes with activities by others, closing of site access/egress routes, etc. - i.e. the site-wide things that they as PC are clearly responsible for. For any hazards identified, the PC should clearly state any controls they expect the excavation contractor to put in place during their task, e.g. liaison with others nearby, road barrier details, etc. Or if the PC is planning to implement the controls, again this needs to be stated and they should be in place when the document is handed over; b) relevant data from the client about ground hazards, e.g. buried services, possible contamination, etc, so the 'expert excavator' can plan their own controls. For item a) there could be a tick list of possible site hazards, with space for detailing the agreed controls. This should be completed jointly, to ensure both the hazards and the controls are agreed by both parties. For item b) there would be a second brief list of possible hazards, with space to acknowledge these are agreed and that suitable controls will be implemented during the excavation. This document is perhaps best described as a 'blanket permit' for the area, which describes the conditions when responsibility is transferred to the sub-contractor. The SC then generates their own permit for the actual excavation, which is the document used by their employees.

Posted By Claire C Thank you for your comments - they are appreciated. Although i am still in the same predicament. With one view being that we, the Principal Contractor, are in ultimate control of the site and therefore it should be our permit that is used, and the other view being that although we are the Principal Contractor we are not the experts in this type of work and therefore should leave the issuing of permits to those who are competent and experienced. Thanks again for your help and any further views on this are welcomed. Kind regards Claire

Posted By Ken Taylor How about an agreed permit with the sub-contractor that requires a signature from both the PC and the SC - and clearly states this on the permit?