Supervision

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 lay down that certain construction operations should only be carried out under the supervision of a competent person. The term competent refers to sufficient skills, knowledge and experience within specific operations. They will be:

1. The erection of any structure (including scaffolds) designed or used to provide support or means of access; any heavy prefabricated component, any shuttering and any framework to support any structure including any buttress, framework or falsework.
2. Work in any excavation.
3. The planning and carrying out of any demolition or dismantling work.
4. The construction, installation, or alteration of any cofferdam or caisson.

Most of the above work types are what are generally termed 'temporary works'. The HSE have strongly suggested that any temporary works are controlled as described with BS5975:2008, Code of practice for temporary works procedures and the permissible stress design of falsework.

Examples of Temporary Works include:-

• Earthworks - Trenches, excavations, temporary slopes and stockpiles. Cofferdams
• Structures - Formwork, falsework, propping, façade retention, needling, shoring, edge protection, temporary bridges, site hoarding and signage, site fencing.
• Equipment/plant foundations - Tower crane bases, supports, anchors and ties for hoists, MCWPs, crane and piling platforms.

BS5975 gives recommendations and guidance on the procedures for all aspects of temporary works in the construction industry. It includes guidance on design, specification, construction, use and dismantling of falsework. This standard also gives guidance on permissible stress design of falsework.

Section 2 of BS 5975 gives recommendations for the procedures required to ensure that temporary works are conceived, designed, specified, constructed, used and dismantled all in a safe and controlled manner.

The standard requires the allocation, in writing, of the following responsibilities and duties:

• Temporary Works Supervisors responsible for the safe and proper erection, use and dismantling
• Temporary Works Designers responsible for the design of defined works and for having the design checked
• A Temporary Works Co-ordinator responsible for seeing that these works have been defined, the design followed and the works checked at appropriate stages

When evaluating your temporary works you should ensure that you follow the principles of BS5975, this includes:-

• Ensuring a competent designer/adviser is in place to supply an engineered solution
• Adequate communication
• Design checking to an appropriate level
• Suitable checks on erection/installation
• Someone co-ordinating the whole process