Christmas and new year shutdown

This talk is about leaving a site for Christmas and new year, and about the first walk when we come back. HSE does not publish a separate Christmas page that I am using. What it does publish is how to stop unauthorised people getting in, how to leave scaffolds and ladders, how to leave excavations, and how to reduce arson. A shutdown is those controls, held for longer. HSE's safety alert on ladders and scaffold security says the level of security depends on how long the site is closing for, and it names overnight, a weekend, a holiday, or mothballed. Christmas is that holiday.

The law, on HSE's public-protection page, is that you conduct the business without putting members of the public at risk. That includes the public and other workers who may be affected. All construction sites need measures to manage access across defined boundaries, and steps to exclude unauthorised people. You define the boundary physically, where necessary, with fencing that suits the site and what is around it. Plan it, provide it, and maintain it. In a populated area that will typically mean a 2-metre-high small-mesh fence or hoarding. The principal contractor must take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorised access. People who are allowed in are told the site rules and given any induction they need. Some visitors need to be supervised.

HSE names how members of the public are seriously injured: materials or tools falling outside the boundary, falling into trenches, or being struck by moving plant. Children are drawn to sites as places to play. You must do what you can to keep them out. The steps HSE lists for child safety are the shutdown list. Secure the site adequately when finishing work for the day. Barrier off or cover excavations and pits. Isolate and immobilise vehicles and plant, and if possible lock them in a compound. Store materials such as pipes, manhole rings and cement bags so they cannot topple or roll. Remove access ladders from excavations and scaffolds. Lock away hazardous substances. Do not leave a machine looking available. Do not leave a ladder looking like an invitation.

Scaffolding needs a second look, especially in a street of houses. HSE's alert says scaffolding can seem like a playground for children, who do not see danger the way an adult does. Clients and contractors must prevent unauthorised access, not only outside working hours, but also when workers are on site and out of sight. The primary means is perimeter fencing: continuous, fixed, and secured where it meets another structure so nobody can squeeze through. Check it, because a gap, or a skip parked against it, becomes a step up. At ground level the scaffold itself may need fencing along its length. Do not leave projecting transoms or ledgers that help someone climb.

Ladders are the usual way in. HSE says it is often possible to remove the ground-to-first-lift ladder after each shift and store it in a locked container, or padlock it flat to the scaffold at each end. It is not good practice to leave the removed ladder on the first lift, because a trespasser can reach it and a worker can fall while putting it there. For a small scaffold it is common for the builder to take the bottom ladder away each night, which matters where you cannot fence easily, such as a house or a pavement that people still walk under. Do not remove a ladder that is part of a fire escape from an occupied building. If you cannot reasonably remove the bottom ladder, a ladder guard can be an alternative: a sturdy plate, padlocked, not tied on with rope, covering at least six rungs so a foot cannot use them. HSE says removal will in most cases achieve better control than a guard. Adding and removing a bottom-lift ladder is not an alteration, and a scaffold tag does not have to be withdrawn just because the scaffold is inaccessible. Stair towers get padlocked fence panels, unless they are the fire escape, in which case you stop people climbing off that route without blocking the escape.

While a scaffold is not available for use, the scaffolding page says mark it with general warning signs and keep people out of the danger zone by physical means. When we come back, the inspection rules still apply. The user or hirer makes sure it is inspected before use, at no more than every 7 days, and after circumstances that could jeopardise it, such as high winds. A fortnight of weather is one of those circumstances. We do not climb it on the first morning back because it was fine when we left.

Excavations do not mind that the office is shut. Leave edges protected, and cover or barrier pits, as the public-protection page says. The excavations page says a competent person inspects at the start of each shift and after any event that may have affected strength or stability, or after a fall of earth. The first morning back is that inspection. Water, frost and a spoil heap that has slumped are reasons to look before anyone gets in. Do not leave a ladder in an excavation over the break.

Fire is the other reason a closed site still needs a plan. HSE's process-fire page says measures should be in place to prevent unauthorised access, because of arson. Sites with a high fire loading, or a history of vandalism and arson, may need extra measures such as lighting, out-of-hours security or CCTV. Bonfires should not normally be allowed. Waste and combustibles come off the site, or into a place that is not an easy start for a fire, before we lock up. Nobody uses the shutdown as a chance to burn the offcuts. The fire talk has the hot-work timings. Those timings are why hot work does not start on the last afternoon if nobody will be there for the watch afterwards.

Before we leave: fencing checked, gates locked, ladders removed or guarded, excavations barriered or covered, plant isolated and locked away if we can, substances locked up, waste dealt with, and someone named who would be called if a neighbour sees a problem over the break. On the first morning back we walk it before we start. Scaffold, excavation, electrics, and anything the weather moved. If it is not as we left it, we do not pretend it is.