In 2005, the new Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act was enacted, replacing the 1989 Act. Under the Act, the new Safety Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2013 came into force on 1st August 2013.
For the first time the new Regulations brought significant responsibilities to owners of private domestic dwellings and introduces additional responsibilities on other duty holders, including designers.
The Construction Safety Regulations 2006 require the Client Company to appoint a Project Supervisor Design Process to oversee health and safety throughout the design & planning process, including alterations in the design, and the design of temporary works, which means that involvement right up until completion of the project is necessary on new construction projects.
The role of Project Supervisor Design Process (PSDP) is a separate appointment as required by the Safety, Health and Welfare (Construction) Regulations 2013. It must be made in writing and must allow for sufficient resources i.e.: adequate fees, for the role to be carried out in accordance with the regulations.
The PSDP shall “organize cooperation between Designers on the same project and, so far as is reasonably practicable, ensure coordination of their activities in relation to the design of the project with a view to protecting the safety, health & welfare of persons involved in construction work”.
This includes organizing cooperation and ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, the coordination of the activities of all temporary works Designers.
The Guidelines state “The PSDP should pay particular attention to potentially catastrophic issues such as overall instability of the structure during the various stages of construction.” In coordinating the activities of the various Designers where the integrity of a structure during construction is an important safety issue, the PSDP should insist (and be in a position to insist) that one designer takes overall design responsibility for the stability of a structure during the envisaged construction process and that a suitably qualified engineer be employed to liaise with the Design team.
The guidelines state “The requirement of the Construction Regulations for the PSDP to co-ordinate the design of works, including the design of temporary works, does not eliminate the need for the appointment (generally by contractors) of competent temporary works engineers who understand the complexity of the forces involved in temporary works-permanent works interaction and who can design the temporary works to take account of these forces” Charlotte Murphy Consulting Engineer is completely involved in each of the safety elements below:
Design Process Safety
Throughout the design process, including alterations to the design, provision is made to eliminate or reduce potential hazards resulting in improved safety performance for construction stage and future maintenance and construction works.
Health and Safety Plan
The Safety Plan prepared by us provides a detailed risk assessment of the project and enables the PSCS and Contractor to implement an effective construction safety plan in advance of starting work on site and so reducing the potential for accidents and losses during construction.
Safety File
The Safety File is a key document intended for the safety of end users of the building or those who will extend or maintain the building in future and is effect the building maintenance manual for the completed project. As part of our duties as PSDP, we take delivery of the file from the PSCS and review the file for delivery to the client. The Project Supervisor for the Construction Stage (PSCS) is normally a separate appointment of the Building Contractor. The PSCS must “coordinate arrangements among contractors to ensure the provision of the relevant information, in writing, necessary for the project supervisor for the design process to complete the safety file”. They PSCS must also provide in writing to the PSDP all relevant information necessary to complete the Safety File.
