Health and Safety Legislation, Roles and Responsibilities
Health and Safety Legislation
The legal layers
Street works are governed by several layers of law at once. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 sets the general duties: employers must do what is reasonably practicable to protect employees (s.2) and others affected by the work (s.3); employees must take reasonable care of themselves and others and co-operate with their employer (s.7), and must not intentionally interfere with or misuse safety provisions (s.8). The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require suitable and sufficient risk assessments, competent advice and arrangements for serious and imminent danger. CDM 2015 allocates duties across client, designer, principal contractor and contractor, and calls for construction phase plans and site-specific method statements.
For street works in particular, NRSWA 1991 s.65 places a direct duty on the undertaker or works promoter to sign, light and guard the works. The Traffic Management Act 2004 brought in permits and network management duties; the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions control which signs may lawfully be used; and the statutory Code of Practice Safety at Street Works and Road Works, read with Traffic Signs Manual Chapter 8, is the practical standard you are measured against.
Traps
Questions test the difference between absolute duties ("must") and reasonably practicable ones, and between the Act and the Code - a breach of the Code is not in itself an offence, but it is powerful evidence that the s.65 duty has failed. Know that RIDDOR 2013 covers specified injuries, dangerous occurrences, and over-seven-day injuries, and that near misses are not reportable under RIDDOR but must still be recorded and investigated.
Worked example: an operative finds the "road works ahead" sign blown flat. Under s.7 they must report it at once to the supervisor and, if trained and it is safe, secure or replace it.
Roles and Responsibilities
Who does what
Every site has a chain of accountability. The client or promoter defines the need for the works and passes information on hazards; the designer eliminates risk in the layout and method where possible; the principal contractor or undertaker plans, manages and monitors the work and provides the traffic management plan and site-specific risk assessments; the site supervisor turns that plan into a safe physical layout, briefs the gang, checks the signing, lighting and guarding at the start of each shift and after any change, and has the authority - and the duty - to stop unsafe work. Operatives follow the method statement, use the equipment they are trained for, report defects and near misses, and do not alter the traffic management layout unless competent and authorised.
Competence in this sector is shown through NRSWA (street works) units: the operative units include signing, lighting and guarding; the supervisor units cover planning, supervising and monitoring the same activity. A card proves training, not judgement - you still need site-specific induction, briefing and adequate supervision.
Traps
Candidates confuse the person who prepares the traffic management plan with the person who implements it, and assume a supervisor must physically stand on site all day. In reality the supervisor must be available and the level of supervision must match the risk, the complexity and the competence of the gang - higher-speed roads, junctions and night work demand closer supervision. Another classic: thinking a trained operative can redesign a closure. They cannot.
Worked example: a two-person gang arrives to find the lane closure has been moved by a delivery driver. They must stop, make the site safe, and call the competent supervisor to re-establish the layout - not improvise.