What should a site induction cover?
Where there is more than one contractor, CDM 2015 makes the principal contractor responsible for making sure a suitable site induction is provided. HSE says it should be specific to the site and cover the risks and controls that people working there need to know about.
What the law requires
Regulation 13 requires the principal contractor to ensure a suitable site induction is provided. Each contractor must also make sure their workers have a suitable site induction, unless the principal contractor has already provided it. The information a contractor gives workers must include the procedures to follow in serious and imminent danger.
The regulations do not set a syllabus or a length. HSE says every site worker must be given a suitable induction, that it should be site specific, and that it should highlight any particular risks and control measures people on the project need to know about. That includes the particular risks listed in Schedule 3 of the regulations.
What HSE says to consider
HSE lists these topics for an induction:
- senior management commitment to health and safety
- an outline of the project
- how the project is managed
- first-aid arrangements
- accident and incident reporting arrangements
- how workers will be briefed from then on, for example toolbox talks
- how the workforce will be consulted on health and safety
- each worker's own responsibility for health and safety
A practical checklist
HSE's separate guidance on site rules says they should cover the topics below, and that they should be brought to everyone's attention. The induction is the natural place to do that.
- personal protective equipment
- radios and mobile phones, and smoking
- restricted areas, hot works and permit-to-work systems
- traffic management and pedestrian routes
- site tidiness and fire prevention
- emergency arrangements
Putting the two lists together, a sensible site checklist also covers the following. These are good practice rather than a fixed legal list, so adapt them to the job:
- who is in charge of the site, and who to report problems to
- the main hazards on this site and how they are controlled, such as excavations, work at height, live services or asbestos
- where the welfare facilities are
- the fire and emergency procedure, including the alarm and assembly point
- who the first-aiders or appointed person are, and where the first-aid kit is
- how to report an accident, injury or near miss
Visitors
HSE says site inductions should also go to people who do not work there regularly, whether they visit occasionally (HSE gives architects as an example) or once only (students, for instance). The induction should be proportionate to the visit. An escorted visitor needs only to know the main hazards they may meet and the controls, while an unescorted visitor needs more detail.
Recording it
Neither regulation 13 nor HSE's induction guidance requires a written record. Keeping one is good practice, because it shows the induction was given and lets you spot who has not had one yet. A simple sheet is enough: name, employer, date, who gave the induction, the topics covered and the person's signature. Keep it with the site records.
Language and understanding
HSE says health and safety information and instructions must be easy to understand, in simple, clear English and, where appropriate, other languages, with photographs or diagrams where they help. For site rules, HSE says to consider translations for workers who do not speak English. Good practice is to check that people have understood, for example by asking where the assembly point is, rather than only handing over a sheet.