There's an easy way for even the most unprepared to pass with flying colours when the inspector pays a call
When you're expecting a visit from the Health & Safety Executive next day, you need to make sure your health and safety plan is in good shape. But if you've never been a principal contractor before, this isn't as straightforward as you might think.

That was the situation Joanna Isles, company secretary for Blackpool-based contractor MH Building, found herself in. With no experience of compiling a health and safety plan before, she was in a bit of a spot. "I'd done method statements for our own part in a job before, but nothing on this scale. And the HSE was coming to inspect the site so we had to bring the plan together very quickly."

Safety consultancy Safety Works came to her rescue with FastPlan Online. The program asks a series of questions about, for example, what machinery you are using and what products you have on site, and uses the answers to produce a comprehensive plan that you can download and print out for use on site.

"It worked very well," says Isles. "It took me about an hour to complete a 250-page report and I was a complete novice at it." It even passed the HSE test. "The HSE was very impressed with it. They said it was better than reports they'd seen from some bigger firms."

Dave Chesterton, a surveyor with Essex-based contractor Mastercall, says he also got a good response to his FastPlan-compiled report. "The planning supervisor said the plan was very good and very comprehensive. Usually they tell us to go away and improve it, but they passed this one straightaway. It makes us look a more competent company in their eyes."

He adds that reaction on site has been good. "The forms, for things like a permit for works, are very easy to use. I've had no complaints."

Chesterton says compiling a plan usually took him a week. FastPlan has cut that to half an hour. And it helped create a safer site too. "It tended to be a bit hit and miss before, but this gives me a shopping list of what I need before I get on site and makes me more aware of what I need to be checking once I'm there. It also provides daily and weekly checklists, which makes running the site easier and more efficient because you are constantly reminded of what you have to do."

Isles agrees. "As we'd never been a principal contractor before, compiling the report made me aware of things we'd missed. Going through the questions brought things to mind that we hadn't considered." She says that staff on site responded positively to the plan. "It's all a bit new to them, but it is well laid out and easy to follow, and they are happy using it."

Alan Moore, sales and marketing manager for Safety Works, says FastPlan is popular with smaller builders. "It provides an advantage to the smaller builder because they aren't always sure about what to produce. Traditionally these reports are cobbled together and often photocopied from previous projects. This provides a more professional-looking report relatively quickly."

FastPlan Online costs £95 to download. Go to www.fastplanonline.co.uk.

Safer systems

Health and safety consultant Sypol and the BRE have developed a hand-held computer for risk assessment. Their Sabre palmtop lets you enter risk assessments when you’re working at heights, with harmful chemicals or site transport and then transfer the results directly to a PC. And construction manager PCM is piloting an online system with Balfour Beatty, to be launched later this year. E-safe keeps a record of all safety procedures and emails site managers if a procedure hasn’t been followed, as well as a record of near-miss accidents. PCM is also launching K-File, which automatically produces a health and safety file.

Source

Construction Manager