The documents
What is a health and safety file?
Short answer
A health and safety file is a file appropriate to the characteristics of the project, containing the information about it likely to be needed to keep people safe during any later work on the building. The principal designer prepares it under regulation 12(5), and it is required only on projects involving more than one contractor. At the end of the project it goes to the client, who keeps it and passes it on if they sell.
What goes in
HSE guidance lists what should be considered for inclusion:
- A brief description of the work carried out.
- Any hazards not eliminated through the design and construction processes, and how they have been addressed, for example surveys or other information about asbestos or contaminated land.
- Key structural principles, such as bracing or sources of substantial stored energy including pre-tensioned or post-tensioned members, and safe working loads for floors and roofs.
- Hazardous materials used, such as lead paints and special coatings.
- Information about removing or dismantling installed plant and equipment, including any special lifting arrangements.
- Health and safety information about equipment provided for cleaning or maintaining the structure.
- The nature, location and markings of significant services, including underground cables, gas supply equipment and fire-fighting services.
- Information and as built drawings of the building, its plant and equipment, for example the means of safe access to and from service voids and fire doors.
What to keep out
Guidance is specific: the file should not include things that will be of no help when planning future construction work, such as the pre-construction information, the construction phase plan, contractual documents or safety method statements. The information must be in a convenient form, clear, concise and easily understandable.
Why that discipline matters. The file is read by somebody in a hurry, years later, deciding whether it is safe to open a wall. Everything that is not about that decision makes the decision harder.
Who keeps it and for how long
The client, for as long as it is relevant, which HSE guidance describes as normally the lifetime of the building. It can be paper, electronic or any other durable form. If the client disposes of their interest in the building they must give the file to whoever takes on the client duties and make sure they know what it is for. If they sell part of a building, the relevant information is passed or copied to the new owner.
On the next project it becomes something else
The loop worth understanding: on the next project on that building, the health and safety file is pre-construction information. Regulation 4 makes the client provide relevant information they hold, and HSE guidance names an existing health and safety file as one of the first things to look for. A file written carelessly is a problem for a project that has not started yet.
Sources
- CDM 2015, regulation 12: construction phase plan and health and safety file legislation.gov.uk
- CDM 2015, regulation 4: client duties in relation to managing projects legislation.gov.uk
- Managing health and safety in construction, L153 HSE guidance on the Regulations
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