29 January 2016
Summary
We visited a range of designers to review compliance with the Approved Code of Practice ‘Managing Health and Safety in Construction (ACoP11)’ and provide an opportunity to ask questions and highlight any issues they’d encountered when applying ACoP11.
It was well received and although the number of projects which had been initiated after 1 January 2015 and therefore subject to ACoP11 was less than expected, the commitment to ACoP11 was evident.
Introduction
During the second half of 2015, we carried out an initiative to proactively visit a range of ‘designers’, as defined by the Approved Code of Practice ‘Managing Health and Safety in Construction – ACoP11’, which came into force on 1 January 2015. The aim of the initiative was to:
- review compliance with the requirements on designers, as detailed within ACoP11
- provide an opportunity for designers to ask questions and highlight any issues they’d encountered when applying ACoP11
In total, 17 companies that would be defined as ‘designers’ were visited by inspectors.
Designers duties
The definition of a ‘designer’ under ACoP11 is someone who has a profession, trade or business that involves them in the preparation of designs for construction work, including variations.
Under ACoP11, a designer’s duties include the following for construction projects:
- for all construction projects, plus for small projects where two or more contractors are engaged, plus additional duties for major projects
- check commercial client is aware of their duties
- check principal contractor has been appointed
- check health and safety project co-ordinator has been appointed
- eliminate hazards and reduce risks during design
- provide any information needed for the health and safety file
- provide information about remaining risks
Findings
The initiative identified that almost all of the designers were:
- aware of their duties under ACoP11
- had a limited number of projects that had been ‘initiated’ in 2015 and therefore subject to the requirements of ACoP11
- able to provide some evidence of how they intended to fulfil their duties
- were aware they may need to develop their approach and knowledge in order to eliminate hazards and reduce risks
Although the majority of designers had very few, if any projects that were initiated since the introduction of ACoP11, most had some experience of applying the principles.
This was either as a result of:
- retrospectively reviewing past projects with ACoP11 in mind
- previous experience of working with similar legislation in the UK, or
- applying the principles of ACoP11 as best practice, even if the project was initiated prior to the introduction of ACoP11
In general, it was acknowledged by the majority of designers that the templates and approach they had created, in order to achieve the designers duties under ACoP11, would need to be reviewed and developed as they gained more experience.
In addition, some designers had more advanced ‘buildability’ knowledge than others, which would assist when eliminating hazards and reducing risks during design.
However, we were able to provide guidance on additional resources which may assist.
Other designers had already identified this gap in knowledge and indicated that they intended to use external resources for support.
The designers who were visited welcomed the opportunity to ask further questions about the implementation of ACoP11 and all the visits raised important questions about the application of the ACoP.
Conclusion
The cross-section of designers we visited helped raise awareness of ACoP11 and the legal duties under the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989.
Although the number of projects that had been initiated since the ACoP had come into force was lower than expected, almost all of the designers had taken steps to assist them to comply with their duties, which will be developed with more experience.
The designers welcomed the opportunity to ask questions about the application of ACoP11 and how best to apply the principles in practice.
Further information on the requirements of ACoP11 can be obtained by contacting the Health and Safety Inspectorate, or download the ACoP below.
Managing health and safety in construction (ACoP11)
gov.je