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Contractors

Any works involving building maintenance, repairs construction or demolition including highways are subject to the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.

Managers and governing bodies/head teachers (SCC maintained schools) are strongly urged to use the Property Division for all building related projects as they may act as Client Service Provider and as such will ensure all of the requirements of the Safe Working Procedure ‘Control of Contractors and Service Providers’ are complied with.

This rest of this micro site has been created to aid managers, governing bodies/head teachers (in a SCC maintained school) who take the decision to manage building works locally, without the expertise of Property Services.

Please note: Every contract made by or on behalf of the Council including its Chief Executive and Cabinet Members shall comply with the Contract Procedure Rules and the Council's Financial Regulations. If you do not follow the Rules and/or fail to enter into a contract on behalf of the council in accordance with them you will have breached the Code of Conduct and this could be a disciplinary offence.

Roles and responsibilities

Any manager or governing body/head teacher (in a SCC maintained school) who contracts their own building/construction project must seek professional, competent advice.

Under the Construction, Design and Management Regulations 2015 there are statutory duties on a 'client' who is commissioning a building/construction project. A Manager or Governing Body/head teacher (in a SCC maintained school) procuring ‘construction work’ is the client. There are other duties for Principal Designer, Designer, Principal Contractor and the Worker, the links below will provide you with a summary of those duties

Please note: If the Client does not appoint Principal Designer or Principal Contractor, they must carry out their duties themselves.

A further breakdown on the different roles and responsibilities under the duties can be found on the Construction Skills for Industry website:


Managers or governing body/head teacher (SCC maintained school) need to be aware that protection of the public (i.e. any non-employees not taking part in the building work) must be considered in the pre-construction phase planning required by the CDM Regs; and that any injury to such a person must be reported. Further information on the necessary considerations and control measures can be found in

Managers or governing body/head teacher (SCC maintained school) have to ensure that any person/company commissioned to carry out work on a project, are complying with the above guidance and are competent to do so.

Permits to work

A 'Permit to Work' must not be confused with an 'authorisation' to work.

An 'authorisation' to work will involve contractors making themselves known to site managers of their presence and the type of work they will be undertaking. The site manager can oversee proceedings, ensure the health and safety of staff and ensure the work is carried out in compliance with local procedures.

Control of this would include signing in and out of the site, contractors being made aware of potential asbestos locations (if breaking into the fabrication of the building), and the fire emergency procedures.

Civic Buildings have adopted an 'Authorisation to Work' form that has to be completed by all contractors carrying out works on any of the sites. Control of contractors is mandatory. The methods used to do this have to be suitable and sufficient to the workplace.

A 'Permit to Work' (PTW) on the other hand, is a formal authority to operate a planned procedure designed to protect personnel working in hazardous areas or carrying out hazardous activities. A PTW will be needed when the risks of a job or task are very high and the controls precautions need strict observance for the safety of those involved, examples include:

Any major work requiring a permit to work system should ideally be done by an external competent contract who should provide their own PTW system, as detailed in their SSW or Method Statement.

Forms

The forms which can be downloaded at the foot of this page are sanctioned by the Property Division and are available for the collation of relevant information.

Additional Information

Additional sources of information relating to the requirements of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations can be found on the HSE website and within the approved codes of practice:

Any other information on the requirements of any form of building works can be obtained from Property Division, or the Corporate Health and Safety Service.

Click on the following links below to find out more information on the topics described.

Document Type Size
Authorisation to workdocx664.3 KB
Contractors - Guidancedoc513.5 KB
Contractors incident notification formdocx809.6 KB
Pre-construction proformadoc588.5 KB
Permit to Work - Confined spacesdocx647.5 KB
Permit to Work - Hot worksdocx1.1 MB
Permit to Work - Roof worksdoc771 KB
Safe Working Procedure - Control of Contractors - Construction and Building Maintenancepdf331.5 KB
Safe Working Procedure - Control of Contractors - Service Providers and suppliers of goodspdf564.5 KB
Site Safety Evaluation Sheet (Construction Only)doc574 KB
Site Safety Inspection (Construction Only)doc628.5 KB