Builders on site: the client’s checklist, before, during and after

1. Before work starts

• ☐If more than one contractor will work on the project, or it is reasonably foreseeable that there will be, a principal designer and a principal contractor are appointed in writingCDM reg 5(1)
• ☐Pre-construction information sent to every designer and contractor: what you already hold, such as drawings, an existing health and safety file and your asbestos survey or registerCDM reg 4(4)
• ☐A construction phase plan exists before the construction phase begins, drawn up by the contractor (one contractor) or the principal contractorCDM reg 4(5)(a)
• ☐Welfare facilities for the builders are arranged: toilets, washing, drinking water, somewhere to rest and changeCDM reg 4(2)(b), Sch 2
• ☐Notifiable? More than 30 working days with more than 20 workers at once, or more than 500 person days. If so, the client notifies HSE in writing before the construction phase beginsCDM reg 6
• ☐Fire risk assessment reviewed for the works: escape routes, alarm coverage and the assembly point while part of the site is a building siteFire Safety Order art 9(3)
• ☐Who controls which part of the premises, and when, is agreed with the contractor, and how you will co-ordinate fire precautionsFire Safety Order art 22

2. While the builders are on site

• ☐Every contractor signs in and out, so your roll call includes them on day one, not after the first drillGood practice
• ☐Contractors are told about your site’s risks and rules before they start (a record of who was told what is how you show it)MHSW Regs reg 12(1), (3)
• ☐Method statements and risk assessments are received, read and filed for each trade before its work startsGood practice
• ☐Hot work (welding, grinding, cutting, torch-on roofing) only under a written permit, with a fire watch afterwards; check your insurer’s hot work conditionInsurer, FPA RC7
• ☐Escape routes, fire doors and final exits are not blocked or locked by the works, and any change to the route is briefed to staffGOV.UK evacuation plan
• ☐If the assembly point moves for the build, everyone, including the contractors, is told where it is nowGOV.UK evacuation plan
• ☐The arrangements are kept under review as the project moves on, not set once at the startCDM reg 4(3)

3. At handover

• ☐If more than one contractor worked on it: health and safety file received from the principal designer (or the principal contractor, if there is no principal designer), and kept where the next person to work on the building can find itCDM reg 4(5)(b), 12(10)
• ☐New building, extension or change of use: fire safety information handed over by whoever did the work, and your notice acknowledging it signed and returnedBuilding Regs reg 38
• ☐Fire risk assessment reviewed again for the finished building, and the review recordedFire Safety Order art 9(3), (6)
• ☐A timed drill in the finished layout, with the roll call taken from whatever list you will rely on in a real fireGOV.UK drills guidance

General information about published law and guidance, England and Wales, not legal advice. Sources and full wording: noonelite.com/cdm-client-checklist.