What is a Health and Safety file and why do you need one?
Liaison Systems Ltd
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A health and safety file records all health and safety information required to safely operate, clean, maintain, refurbish, and demolish a building.
Why is the Health and Safety file required?
A Health and Safety File document is required by law under the Construction (Design & Management) regulations 2015 (also known as CDM 2015). CDM 2015 are a set of health and safety regulations that apply to every construction project undertaken in the UK and are there to ensure all information on risks and hazards are recorded. Since 2015, there has been an average of?30-46 worker deaths annually?three times the ‘all industry’ rate and in the same period some 54,000 non-fatal injuries well above the UK average.
Who is responsible for the Health and Safety file document?
Ultimately it is the Client who has the responsibility for the Health and Safety File, its development, storage, and responsibility to provide to any parties undertaking work activities in the building. Under construction of a building or major refurbishment works within it, it is the norm for the client to pass the responsibility for the development of the Health and Safety file to the project Principal Designer (as defined under CDM2015) it will include all health and safety information for operating, cleaning, maintaining, refurbishing, and demolishing the building safely.
Although the Principal Designer will produce the file, it is also the responsibility of the principal contractor/construction manager and their sub-contractors to pass all health and safety information and any other specifically requested information by law. As the Health and Safety File will cross reference with O&Ms produced by the principal contractor/construction manager and their sub-contractors, failure to provide adequate information within an O&M may place a contractor in breach of CDM legislation.
On a design and build project, it will be the principal contractor's role to produce the Health and Safety file.
Does the client have any responsibility for the Health and Safety file?
Although is not the client will pass responsibility the production of the Health and Safety file to the principal designer, the client must ensure that the document is being produced, regularly updated, and reviewed. It is also the client’s responsibility to make sure, once practical competition is achieved on a project, that the file is readily available to anyone who needs it. If the building is sold or leased out, then the file must be provided to the new owner or leaseholder.
When should the Health and Safety file be produced?
Due to its legal importance, it is advised that the production of the file starts as soon as possible. As information is received from sub designers, client FM team, principal contractor, and sub-contractors, it must be reviewed and included within the health and safety file. Throughout the project, assessments of the file during its production will ensure all required information is collated and recorded and importantly highlight any ommisions before practical completion.
What should be included in a Health and Safety file?
CDM 2015 states that the information included within the Health and Safety file must be ‘appropriate to the characteristics of the project’. This means it must include all information required to safely operate, clean, maintain, refurbish, and demolish of the building.
The typical content of the file includes:
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How should the Health and Safety file be stored?
The client remains responsible during the life of the building to ensure that the health and safety file is both up to date and available to anyone who requires it. The most effective way to do this is as a digital file which can then be stored online allowing anyone given clearance to access the file from anywhere at any time.
The Liaison Systems solution to this is the View platform. View is an online building information library designed to store all information required for building maintenance, operation, cleaning, refurbishment, and demolition. It removes the need to keep multiple paper copies of all files and allows engineers to gain fast access to the information they require remotely.
View also provides a historical audit trail when there are updates or revisions to any information on the system. This allows you to go back to past information if required.
Liaison also provides a full building information auditing service where we effectively act as a client's gatekeeper to ensure that all data held on View is complete. The service can also include production of consistent sub-contractor OM templates, audit tracking of building information draft issues (OM’s, Health and Safety file, Building Users guide etc) so ensuring the client is always aware of what record information is available, its status and most importantly, what is missing that could raise risk.