HSE press release E066:03 - 2 May 2003
Results of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) designer initiative held during March 2003 in Scotland and the North of England revealed that many designers are unaware of their duties under Regulation 13 of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 1994 (CDM).
In about one third of cases the designers demonstrated little or no understanding of their responsibilities. A significant number had failed to consider the practical detail of how the structure they had designed could be safely constructed, maintained and cleaned.
The designer initiative involved HSE's construction inspectors in Scotland and the North of England meeting designers and planning supervisors on site in a bid to reduce the number of accidents in the construction industry involving falls from height. Falls from height continue to be the most significant cause of fatal accidents on construction sites in the UK and designers have legal duties to avoid foreseeable risks to workers during construction, cleaning and maintenance of the finished structure. Where risks remain, designers are required to provide information that will allow these risks to be properly controlled by others.
HSE inspectors looked in detail at the design input at 123 major projects, covering a wide range of different types of work, representing a value of nearly £1bn. The inspectors held pre-arranged site meetings with the lead designers and planning supervisors in order to assess how the designer had controlled risk in relation to work at height. The aim of the initiative was for inspectors to identify good and bad practice and raise awareness of designer duties rather than to focus on taking enforcement action.
Nic Rigby, HSE Construction Inspector who lead the initiative, said: "The results of this exercise indicate just how far from the required standard many designers actually are. HSE inspectors found that where design risk assessments had been prepared, many were of poor quality and added little if anything to the safety of the construction process. Inspectors reported that designers were often abdicating their responsibility to reduce risk in relation to work at height by leaving it to the principal contractor, without first considering how they could change the design in a way which would make it safer to build, clean or maintain."
Not only did designers not appreciate their duties under CDM, many also had very little knowledge of other legislation, particularly the Construction (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1996 (CHSW) which applies to the contractors who have to construct the buildings. Consequently contractors were struggling to control risks which could easily have been eliminated or considerably reduced by good design.
Mr Rigby said: "Many designers viewed the safety harness as the panacea for protection against all work at height risks, without giving any consideration to the possibility of eliminating the need for work at height, reducing the risk through the use of work platforms with good standards of edge protection, or providing more collective forms of fall protection such as nets or air bags."
Only one third of the designers seen during the initiative were considered by inspectors to have sufficient knowledge of CDM to allow them to adequately fulfil their duties as a designer. A mere 8% of the designers seen had received any training on CDM, and for many, this initiative was the first occasion when they had been asked to justify their design decisions in the context of Regulation 13 of CDM.
Speaking about the results of the initiative, Kevin Myers, Chief Inspector of Construction said: "It is of serious concern to HSE that many designers are still failing to understand and act on their responsibilities to protect those affected by their design decisions. If the construction industry is to improve its health and safety performance further, all duty holders, including designers, must do more to reduce risks on site, particularly in relation to falls.
"This initiative is part of our intervention strategy targeting all CDM duty holders, not just site contractors, and it has revealed that many designers need to improve their understanding of how to comply with Regulation 13 of CDM. The HSE will continue to work with industry to bring about these improvements, but designers can also expect that where we find them failing to meet their responsibilities, we will take enforcement action," said Mr Myers.
Some examples of poor practice identified by HSE's inspectors were;
1. A designer had specified the use of roof anchors to provide a safety harness attachment point for the cleaning of roof-mounted windows on a 3-storey domestic property. The anchor point however could not be safely reached from the roof access point. As a result of the meeting the designer agreed to review the design of the roof windows to allow them to be cleaned from within the building.
2. A designer for a steel-framed building had specified the use of a running line and harness system for maintenance and cleaning of the glass atrium in the centre of the building. The glass from which the atrium was to be constructed was non-load bearing however. As a result of the meeting the designer reviewed the design of the atrium and changed the specification of the glass so that it could withstand an impact fall from a worker on the roof.
3. During the construction of a theatre complex the principal contractor had used a birdcage scaffold costing £12,000 as a means of fall protection during the installation of an irregular roof covering. The scaffold prevented access into the auditorium by other construction trades for 3 weeks, and together with the scaffold erection/dismantling time added 4 weeks to the build programme. Safety nets could have been specified by the designer and attachment points incorporated into the design of the steel beams. The nets would have cost £4,000 and not delayed the project.
Further information of the results found during the designer initiative can be found in the report posted on the website at www.hse.gov.uk/construction/pdf/designinit.pdf [80kb]
1. Regulation 13 (2a) of CDM states: "Every designer shall ensure that any design he prepares and which he is aware will be used for the purposes of construction work includes among the design considerations adequate regard to the need:
(i) to avoid foreseeable risks to the health and safety of any person at work carry out construction work or cleaning work in or on the structure at any time, or of any person who may be affected by the work of such a person at work,
(ii) to combat at source risks to the health and safety of any person at work carrying out construction work or cleaning work in or on the structure at any time, or of any person who may be affected by the work of such a person at work, and
(iii) to give priority to measures which will protect all persons at work who may carry out construction work or cleaning work at any time and all persons who may be affected by the work of such persons at work over measures which only protect each person carrying out such work."
2. Falls from height is priority programme area that forms part of the Revitalising Health and Safety Campaign. Revitalising Health and Safety, published in June 2000, is a Government and Health and Safety Commission initiative that sets targets for the nation to reduce work-related deaths, ill health and injury. More details about Revitalising Health and Safety can be found on the HSE website on www.hse.gov.uk/revitalising/index.htm
3. There were 85 fatal injuries in the construction industry
between 1 April 2001 and 31 March 2002, six of which were to
members of the public. 4862 people suffered major injuries, of whom
382 were members of the public. 9587 workers in the construction
industry suffered injuries that kept them off work for more than
three days. 47% of fatal injuries and 30% of major injuries to
workers were caused by falls from height in 2001/02.
(Health and Safety Statistics 2001/02, www.hse.gov.uk/statistics)
4. The construction industry has committed to a step change in performance, which was demonstrated through setting challenging Revitalising targets and adopting action plans at the Construction Safety Summit which took place on 27 February 2001. The construction industry set the following Revitalising targets for improvement.
To reduce:
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