Site management responsibilities for health, safety and welfare
Duties that never delegate away
The site manager runs the site for the principal contractor, but the legal duties stay with the organisations. In practice the role is: provide welfare, induct and train, supervise, monitor, coordinate and consult.
Welfare
Schedule 3 to CDM 2015 requires suitable and sufficient welfare from the first day of work, before anyone starts. That means sanitary conveniences, washing facilities with hot and cold (or warm) running water, soap and a means of drying, drinking water, changing and drying rooms, rest facilities with seating and shelter, and facilities for pregnant and nursing mothers. L153 gives a table of numbers - roughly one toilet and one washbasin for up to five workers, rising in steps as numbers grow - with separate, lockable provision where needed. Everything must be ventilated, heated, lit, cleaned and maintained, and be proportionate to numbers, gender, travel distance and hours worked.
Induction, supervision and consultation
Everyone - including visitors, delivery drivers and visiting specialists - must be inducted before starting work. Competence means skills, knowledge, training and experience plus organisational capability, checked with cards (CSCS, CPCS), certificates and a short practical test. Consultation with the workforce is required by HSCER 1996, either directly or through safety representatives. First aid, fire arrangements, emergency procedures and the accident book sit with the manager, as does coordination of overlapping contractors and their interfaces.
Traps: welfare is not something to provide "when practicable"; a single portable toilet on a busy site rarely meets the test; a short project does not lower the welfare standard; visitors are not exempt from induction.
Rule of thumb: if the welfare is not in place at the pre-start walk-round, the site is not ready to start.