planning supervision

The introduction of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM) 1994, means that for most projects the client has a legal responsibility to ensure that only competent designers and contractors are employed and that the regulations are adhered to. A Planning Supervisor must be employed and failure to comply with the CDM Regulations can lead to criminal prosecution of the client.

We are members of the Association of Planning Supervisors and as Planning Supervisors will ensure strict compliance with the CDM Regulations to protect our clients and we will allocate adequate resources to related projects, in terms of numbers and competence of staff.

On request we will make the necessary enquiries and advise on the competence of the Designers and gain such information as to be reasonably satisfied that they will allocate adequate resources. We will ensure that so far as is reasonably practical the design, as it develops, takes account of the need to reduce hazards and that al relevant health and safety matters are communicated between the designers.

We will give advice to assist you with your obligation to ensure that an adequate Health and Safety Plan is prepared before a contractor commences work. We would normally prepare the Pre-Tender Health and Safety Plan to send out with the other tender documentation, so that the tender price reflects the costs of overcoming the hazards identified in the design.

This Pre-Tender Health & Safety Plan will be of assistance to Principal Contractors who are required to produce their own Construction Phase Health and Safety Plan which will be fully assessed before authorisation to commence work is given.

On request, we will make pre-tender enquiries prior to any contractor's name being included on a tender list to obtain answers to questions on each contractor's resources and their health and safety record.

We will notify the Health and Safety Executive, at the appropriate time, of the proposed building works as required by the regulations.

Where any sub-contractor has a specialist design input, we will ensure that they understand their obligations as designers and that the health and safety aspects arising from their design are communicated to the Principal Contractor and all other designers.

As the project progresses we will ensure that the Health and Safety File is compiled and is handed to the client at completion. We would include specific instructions for its use and retention.