CITB Managers Site Management Responsibilities 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Site managers should conduct regular site inspections to monitor health and safety standards. What should happen after an inspection identifies non-conformances?
- Non-conformances should be recorded but no immediate action is required
- Non-conformances should be corrected promptly by the responsible party, with a clear timescale — immediate stop if there is an imminent risk, corrective action tracked through a formal register and followed up until closed (Correct answer)
- Non-conformances can be addressed at the next monthly safety meeting
- Non-conformances should only be escalated if the HSE is visiting
Correct answer: Non-conformances should be corrected promptly by the responsible party, with a clear timescale — immediate stop if there is an imminent risk, corrective action tracked through a formal register and followed up until closed
Identified non-conformances must be actioned promptly: immediate work stoppage for imminent risks; corrective action with a clear timescale and responsible person for others; all non-conformances tracked through an action register and followed up to closure.
Question 2: What is the purpose of a 'works order' or 'scope of works' document issued to a subcontractor?
- To replace the need for a risk assessment
- To define the scope of the subcontractor's work, the programme, the health, safety, and environmental requirements they must meet, and the standards to which the work must be completed — forming part of the contract (Correct answer)
- To provide a financial record for payment purposes only
- To confirm the subcontractor's insurance details
Correct answer: To define the scope of the subcontractor's work, the programme, the health, safety, and environmental requirements they must meet, and the standards to which the work must be completed — forming part of the contract
A scope of works document defines: what the subcontractor is to do, when, to what standard, and under what H&S and environmental requirements. It forms part of the subcontract and ensures the subcontractor understands their obligations before they arrive on site.
Question 3: Under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), lifting equipment must be inspected how frequently for construction site lifting operations?
- Every 6 months for all lifting equipment
- At least every 6 months for equipment used to lift people, and at least every 12 months for other lifting equipment — plus a thorough examination before first use and after any modification or exceptional circumstance (Correct answer)
- Once at the start of the project
- Only when a defect is observed
Correct answer: At least every 6 months for equipment used to lift people, and at least every 12 months for other lifting equipment — plus a thorough examination before first use and after any modification or exceptional circumstance
LOLER 1998 requires thorough examination by a competent person: before first use (unless there is an in-date examination certificate); every 6 months for equipment used to lift persons (MEWPs, personnel lifting baskets); every 12 months for other lifting equipment; and following any exceptional circumstance that may have affected its safety.
Question 4: A site manager is responsible for managing the health and safety of third parties (members of the public, visitors, adjacent landowners) as well as workers. Which duties apply?
- Only duties to workers apply — third parties are not covered by construction H&S law
- The HSWA 1974 Section 3 duty to conduct undertakings in a way that does not, so far as reasonably practicable, expose non-employees to health and safety risks — requiring adequate site fencing, exclusion zones, and management of public interfaces (Correct answer)
- Third parties can only claim under civil (tort) law, not H&S law
- Third-party duties only apply to residential developments
Correct answer: The HSWA 1974 Section 3 duty to conduct undertakings in a way that does not, so far as reasonably practicable, expose non-employees to health and safety risks — requiring adequate site fencing, exclusion zones, and management of public interfaces
Section 3 of the HSWA 1974 requires employers and self-employed persons to conduct their undertakings in a way that does not expose non-employees to health and safety risks. On construction sites this means: adequate boundary fencing, public exclusion zones, management of deliveries and plant near the public, and protection of adjacent properties.
Question 5: What is the purpose of a 'site establishment plan' or 'site layout plan' prepared at the start of a project?
- Only to provide directions for deliveries
- To identify the locations of welfare facilities, site access and egress routes, storage areas, exclusion zones, plant movement routes, emergency evacuation assembly points, and interfaces with the public — informing the CPP and site safety management (Correct answer)
- To satisfy planning conditions only
- To provide a record for the Health and Safety File
Correct answer: To identify the locations of welfare facilities, site access and egress routes, storage areas, exclusion zones, plant movement routes, emergency evacuation assembly points, and interfaces with the public — informing the CPP and site safety management
The site layout plan sets out the physical organisation of the site: access routes, plant movement corridors, pedestrian routes, welfare facilities, storage areas, exclusion zones, and emergency assembly points. It is a critical safety planning tool and informs the CPP.
Question 6: A principal contractor must produce a programme of work for the construction phase. How does this relate to health and safety management?
- The programme is only a commercial document with no health and safety relevance
- The programme must allow adequate time for all health and safety activities (inductions, RAMS preparation, scaffold inspections, welfare provision) — a programme that forces workers to cut corners on safety to meet unrealistic deadlines creates risk (Correct answer)
- The programme should minimise time spent on health and safety tasks
- The programme is the client's responsibility to manage
Correct answer: The programme must allow adequate time for all health and safety activities (inductions, RAMS preparation, scaffold inspections, welfare provision) — a programme that forces workers to cut corners on safety to meet unrealistic deadlines creates risk
The programme must build in sufficient time for all safety-related activities. Unrealistic programmes create pressure to cut corners on safety. Adequate time for inductions, RAMS preparation and review, scaffold erection and inspection, welfare provision, and phased handovers is a health and safety requirement.
CITB Managers Site Management Responsibilities 4
Site managers should conduct regular site inspections to monitor health and safety standards.
What should happen after an inspection identifies non-conformances?