We all know that the construction business is a dangerous business no matter what precautions you take. Individuals that work with those huge and heavy machineries or work in the mines have to go through a bunch of tough times in order to stay alive. Some of us are afraid of heights but those construction workers have to get up 10 floors high building and building multiple floors on top of it or work with cement and other chemical in order to complete the project. That is why, it is necessary to take health and safety file for construction.
The CDM Regulations
So by keeping in mind the hard work of the construction workers the government decides to form something which is called the Construction Management and Design Regulations which is commonly known as the CDM Regulations. These regulations were designed to make sure that the health and the safety of the construction works in kept intact while they work on a project for a contractor.
So in other words it is the duty of the contractor to make sure that each and every individual in his construction team is kept safe and secure otherwise a slightest harm to the employee can lead to a lawsuit against the company or the individual who was running the project.
The CDM Regulations require that the project manager must create a safety file checklist before the start of every project that every employee working knows his or her rights. The principal designer should maintain a health and safety file throughout the project so that in case the project is to be given to the next contractor for subsequent work, he should know the safety rules and who he should carry out the work safely.
What should the Health and Safety contain?
The CDM Regulations file should include certain characteristics of the project including the type of work that is being done at the site and what safety precautions are been taken. In other words it should include everything that would be beneficial to carry out subsequent construction work on the building plus it should also mentions that risks that are to be taken. There are certain things that the file should cover;
- The type of work that is being carried out
- Risks that haven’t been eliminated during the process
- Ways in which those risks are addressed
- Key Structural principles regarding rood and flooring of the building
- Hazardous materials that is being used