Temporary Works and Portable Appliance Testing
We all like to take journeys, but wouldn’t it be even better if we could just get to the destination immediately? Unfortunately there is no Star Trek transporter to get us from A to B. We need to plan our journeys. This isn’t a blog about traffic safety. It’s an analogy of how we comply with H&S Law. I’m going to cover a few concepts in H&S which confuse people. Don’t worry, you’ll see the connection with the analogy.
Temporary Works (TW) is something a lot of people get confused about. Have a look on the legislation website for a Temporary Works Regulation. You won’t find one. Temporary Works is a term coined in the British Standards (BS5975). The British Standards aren’t legislation either. You don’t need to follow that. They’re only guidance.
Now the destination I was talking about earlier on, is enshrined in the Health and Safety at Work etc Act, 1974 (HASAW1974). This over-arching piece of legislation tells us what to do, but not how to do it i.e. how to get here. That’s the journey I was talking about. The BS5975 is a nice little guidebook, taking us on a precarious journey, avoiding common pitfalls and ensuring we get to the destination. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM2015) give us a directive that BS5975 can help us achieve. Regulation 19 specifies that…
All practicable* steps must be taken, where necessary to prevent danger to any person, to ensure that any new or existing structure does not collapse….
One of the best examples could be some fencing you’ve just put up to protect the public from your construction site compound. I’ve been on many a Safety inspection and I’ve seen some extremely detailed BS5975 Temporary Works procedures. On other sites, I’ve seen no BS5975 implemented, but a rigid inspection regime including details of key structural principles by Structural Engineers.
At the end of the day, we don’t want to harm anyone, so however you do it that’s up to you. But do take the ‘litmus test’ and ask yourself: ‘if this blew over due to increased wind load, or structural instability then would my paperwork and inspection regime hold up in a court of law?’. If not, then I’d opt to follow BS5975 like it was a road map to where you want to go.
Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) is another one of those things that you won’t find on the legislation website. Again this is something that under HASAW1974 we are meant to do i.e. under Section 2 it mentions providing safe equipment. If it’s electrical, how do we know it’s safe? Further regulation prescribed to us can be found in the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (EAWR89) and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment 1998 (PUWER98).
UK Legislation, broadly speaking and by contrast to OSHA and US legislation isn’t very prescriptive. It dictates an end-state, but relies on our own judgement, perception and experience to get that end state. This needs careful consideration when we involve other people, and a degree of trust.
The very concept and perception of risk is a philosophical one and dealing with people can be psychosocial as well as psychological, but we all want the same thing.
I think that whilst not compulsory, why not choose to get help and guidance when it’s there for free?
*Practicable is a legal term meaning that if something can be technologically done, then it must be done, regardless of the cost or time to implement. If you can’t afford it, then don’t do it.