Project roles

The RIBA Plan of Work 2013 embraces health and safety issues by clearly defining each project role. Providing health and safety advice is a core obligation of any professional role. Legislative requirements to manage this process are fulfilled by the health and safety adviser, who ensures that any legislative duties and requirements are carried out by the project team. As a key adviser to the client, those undertaking the role are also encouraged to consider other health and safety initiatives as part of a project Health and Safety Strategy and to contribute to the development of the Risk Assessment process, the Maintenance and Operational Strategy and, where appropriate, the Construction Strategy. These must all consider health and safety in a proportionate, practical and holistic manner.

Each party undertaking a specific role or roles might also have a duty to comply with other aspects of health and safety legislation. As noted above, these requirements are not stated in the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 as they may change from time to time. However, the Health and Safety Strategy would certainly include Risk Assessments and some of the other strategies set out below to aid compliance with such requirements.

Risk Assessments

The RIBA Plan of Work 2013 advocates the use of appropriate tools arising from UK Government and EU legislation, including the preparation and review of Risk Assessments throughout the design process to assist with the elimination, reduction and management of health and safety issues as the design and construction progresses. Risk Assessments, and other proactive measures, are instrumental in applying holistic and practical controls during the design, procurement, construction and operation phases of a project.

For Risk Assessments to be successful, each party should develop their own analysis of the specific health and safety issues within the project. It is then essential that all the risks associated with the project as a whole are collated, recorded and circulated to the project team. The lead designer may be required to ensure that the collated risks associated with design are passed on to the relevant parties during the procurement and construction phases.

Maintenance and Operational Strategy

The Maintenance and Operational Strategy performs a number of functions. It allows the design team to demonstrate how a building can be maintained and operated on handover and, as part of this process, ensures that the ‘base’ building includes all of the measures required to comply with the strategy (for example, is there a garage or storeroom for cleaning equipment?). Producing the strategy also confirms the fact that the health and safety aspects of post-occupancy activities have been considered and contributes to reducing operational costs.

The Maintenance and Operational Strategy not only sets the maintenance regime but requires any health and safety aspects to be identified and controlled or eliminated during the design process. This ensures that the client is aware of and understands any residual risks that will carry over into the operational phase (for example, the operational implications of a specific method proposed for window cleaning).

Construction Strategy

The Construction Strategy should be developed by the construction lead. However, it is important to consider buildability during the early project stages and the contractor’s ability to contribute to this process will depend on when they become involved.

Where the contractor is appointed after Stage 2, the duties in the early stages may be carried out by the lead designer, by another member of the design team or by a specialist consultant, depending on the composition of the design team and the specific complexities of the project prior to the contractor’s involvement. In any case, the Construction Strategy would be prepared collaboratively with contributions from each design team member taken into consideration. When the contractor becomes involved they take over responsibility for the Construction Strategy, with any major deviations in strategy considered during the tender phase. Put another way, the document is a core health and safety tool that requires consideration of the construction process as a whole with specific and particular attention paid to buildability from the early design stages.

On larger projects the Construction Strategy would ensure that details of aspects such as site logistics, cranage, site access and similar decisions are incrementally and proportionately included as the project progresses. Some aspects of the Construction Strategy, such as how to deal with an underpinned boundary wall, for example, will be derived from the design process; others may be determined during the tender process, when the contractor is calculating the preliminary costs, such as site cabin locations, cranage strategies and other logistical issues. The contractor will ultimately be the focus of this strategy; however, the design team will be instrumental in setting out aspects of the design that require specific attention during the construction period.

On smaller projects, it is likely that the architect would develop the Construction Strategy for inclusion with the tender documents issued to the contractor. On these projects, the Construction Strategy can also be useful and can help to minimise queries or problems arising on site. For example, in the case of a small first floor flat conversion with a steep and narrow existing staircase, consideration would need to be given to the delivery of materials (a new bath or a large, heavy door, for example).

The Construction Strategy might also advocate that all works are registered with the Considerate Constructors Scheme to provide a further layer of health and safety monitoring on a project. This scheme also assists in the development of sustainability measures during the construction process.

Health and Safety Strategy

The main purpose of the Health and Safety Strategy is to set out how compliance with legislation is to be achieved. However, it would also be used to capture other health and safety initiatives on a project and encourage the adoption of industry best practice rather than simply compliance with minimum legal requirements. The Health and Safety Strategy can be developed by the health and safety adviser and it may be initiated in a workshop environment with the collaborative project team.

The Health and Safety Strategy may be derived from a template that is adapted to suit changing legislative requirements and amended to include the particular aims of a practice or client.

Handover Strategy

The Handover Strategy deals with the many aspects associated with handing over a building and other post-occupancy activities. The Handover Strategy would need to consider any health and safety issues associated with phased handovers.

Conclusion

An essential component of any Feedback processes would be consideration of the Health and Safety Strategy and how this might be improved and developed on future projects. The Construction Strategy can also be reviewed to determine whether it would have been productive for the designers to have considered certain construction aspects earlier in the design process.

In conclusion, health and safety is imbedded into the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 in a manner that encourages consideration of best practice in relation to health and safety for all aspects of a project, including the operational and maintenance periods.