CDM Policy Statement As Consulting Engineers, our principle commitment in terms of health and safety in the industry is focused upon the CDM Regulations, but in addition, we are also committed to a Health and Safety Policy for our staff, whether in the office or visiting a site. Our Health and Safety Policy therefore covers both the office environment and our responsibilities with regard to design. By the very nature of our practice as civil and structural engineering design consultants, we consider our principal responsibilities under the CDM Regulations to be within the role of designer. As designers, we have always evaluated projects and considered and encompassed safety aspects within the design process, but now formerly record these as part of our legal obligations under the CDM Regulations. Risk assessments are carried out at preliminary design stage (Stage 1) to identify avoidable risks and reduce the risk from unavoidable hazards by modifying proposals where possible before proceeding with detailed design. During detailed design, notes are made where considered appropriate for inclusion on drawings and, following completion of design, a final assessment (Stage 2) is made to ensure that there are no avoidable residual hazards of unacceptable risk in the final design. Any hazards which cannot be avoided are noted for passing on to the Planning Supervisor. Access to Information All staff are supplied with a copy of the company's policy and general procedures for health and safety within the office. In addition, the technical staff are supplied with an information pack on the CDM Regulations containing comprehensive information on the Regulations and advice and guidance on the designers responsibilities. A library of publications and documents is kept for reference and consists of HSE publications, technical publications relating to health and safety and a binder of construction risk assessment examples. These are updated through reference to professional and technical publications. General Organisation All the directors assume responsibility for the implementation of and compliance with the CDM Regulations and health and safety in general. One of these directors has specific responsibility for all health and safety matters and ensures that staff are kept informed. In-house training is carried out in the form of informal discussion and meetings. The director specifically responsible for health and safety has attended a number of seminars with regard to the CDM Regulations. Having attended these seminars, we are not satisfied that enough consideration has been given to the role of the designer, most of the attention seeming to be aimed at the planning supervisor and principal contractor. We are on a number of mailing lists for meetings and seminars and will consider sending members of technical staff if we feel that it would make a meaningful contribution to our role as designer under the CDM Regulations. Meanwhile, we will continue to update and review our procedures from experience and by reference to the latest information through professional and technical papers and publications. All design work is project managed, assessed and checked by chartered engineers before being released for construction, and health and safety implications thereby assessed during the process. As previously mentioned above, a second stage assessment effectively reviews the final design and highlights any changes that are necessary. Any such changes, providing they are effective in reducing the degree of risk, will be implemented. If such changes, however, have significant cost implications, the client will be advised before confirmation is given to the change. Feedback from the construction sites is essential in monitoring performance and we rely on our clients and their contractors to notify us of any aspects of construction which may be relevant to the design process, also when we have the opportunity to visit sites, we will make our own observations and any information obtained from either source will be fed back to the director responsible for CDM who will decide what action is necessary. In this respect, each project will be systematically reviewed in the light of further information obtained from construction and changes made where appropriate and where possible. If this information has an overall effect on our design approach, then an overall review of CDM policy will be undertaken. Specialist Knowledge, Abilities, Resources and Experience As previously stated, all projects are managed by experienced chartered engineers who, in cooperation with the designers, assess the design implications on health and safety and record this in the form of documentation for transfer on to drawings and method statements for passing on to the planning supervisor where appropriate. |