Posted By Robert Dee I handle about 30 small building works per week around Great Britain, sometimes costing upto £15000. What basic H& S system, other than contractual ones, should I have in my office records to ensure that local health officers will be satisfied on COSHH, Workplace and Construction regs if things go wrong? Eg Do I need to have a formally recorded assessment before any order is issued, even for minor repairs?

Posted By Robert Dee Thnaks, but CDM does not apply to 75% of the work. There are fewer than 5 men and certainly less that 300 man hour days involved. That is the query. Some work can last only a few hours and the HSE documents you mentioned give little guidance on whether an assessment is needed for such minor works.

Posted By Frank Cooper Robert, If 75% of your contracts don't come under CDM then 25% of them do and you have no choice but to follow the rules for CDM! However, for the 75% you need to address the safety issues in a logical manner and as a starting point I would be asking my contractor(s) to provide me with "Method Of Work Statements" for each job as well as Risk Assessments where I thought there was a risk or risks that were substantial enough to require dealing with.This should be done before work starts on each occasion. Remember, the job may only involve, say, re-hanging a door but if that door is on a fire evacuation route then obviously there is a risk that needs to be addressed. A pre-contract start meeting is a useful event to review these and to exchange local site safety information. You have no choice but to deal with each job at a time and, assuming you are using the same contractors, will be able to build up a picture as to their competency and to decide how much supervision they will need. Consider looking at the following HSE publications: A guide to Managing Health and Safety in Construction ISBN 0 7176 0755 0 for info on CDM and Managing Contractors : A guide for employers ISBN 0 7176 1196 5. Although the latter one is written for the chemical industry it has some useful pointers which may help. Regards, Frank Cooper

Posted By Ken Taylor For non CDM work, I suspect that most of us operate by: Seeking to engage safe contractors - either from approved lists of previously vetted companies or by vetting their paperwork, policies, past performance record, etc along the lines of HSE guidance for CDM work; Obtaining method statements and risk assessments where relevant; Holding pre-commencement meetings with structured agenda completing a check-list as evidence of agreed performance, exchange of safety information, etc; Monitoring performance on site; and Recording actual performance for future reference. One question to consider is 'Who will be in control of the workplace?. It transfers much of the risk and associated duties if you can give control of a discreet area of working (ring-fence) to the contractor.

Posted By Robert Dee Thanks Gents. Your experience in H&S is very clear, but not in basic repairs and maintenance.It turns out that only Ken is near helping answer my original question about minor building works.As explained, CDM does NOT apply to most of our work yet CDM was the solution from Stuart.Martyn -thanks for info on CDM exemptions but my question was about assessments. Frank - your construction knowledge is evident, but you must know it is getting harder in some parts of the Country to get certain trades - let alone a roofer who will type out a method of working to get a job worth only 200 quid.Ian - set up a meeting with the Client and designer when a loo needs unblocking! For those of us in the construction industry for 30 years what we seek is practical guidance taking account of the shortages in the skilled labour market. The answer appears to be to record an assessment of site conditions and make sure there is someone "in control" of the premises when the tradesman calls. Right?

Posted By Ciaran McAleenan Robert I’ve just had a chance to look at this thread. It would appear that you have received a lot of information but not an answer to your question. Risk assessment is a simple process, often made complex by those more concerned with the process than the outcome. It was always meant to help to improve safety performance, not hinder it. Whether you are working in small building works or the petrochemical industry is immaterial what is important is three questions that are at the heart of every hazard assessment; 1. What can cause harm? (to the workers/ passers by) 2. What am I doing to prevent it? 3. Am I doing enough? How complex the hazard analysis becomes will depend on the hazards you are faced with and I would think that in small building works you are not dealing with anything to far out of the ordinary. Your own answer seems to me to satisfy your needs. The key being the designation of a competent person as “in control” and ensuring that he explains the appropriate hazards control information to the tradesmen. If you want I have a very good model risk assessment document that covers construction and maintenance (essentially for road workers but with slight modification will apply to small building works). Let me have your fax number and I will send it to you. I am always happy to discuss things with you if you want to call me. Best wishes Ciaran mailto:ciaran@confinedspaces.com Tel: 0802 945017