HSE report calls for core safety criteria

Action to standardise the health and safety pre-qualification criteria for contractors and individuals is proposed in a major new research report published by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE).

The so-called Carpenter Report recommends drawing up a set of core criteria against which can be measured the safety competency of companies, designers, site workers, and the projected new health and safety co-ordinators – a role to be introduced under a revision of the CDM Regulations. It does not suggest any new safety pre-qualification scheme as such: rather it offers a set of standards under which existing schemes can be accepted and mutual recognition achieved.

For contractors it is proposed that there should be a competency card system along the same lines as the CSCS skill cards for operatives. Designers would have a similar card as proof of competence based on membership

of an appropriate professional institution.

The report said its central aim is to meet the complaint that there is far too much bureaucracy, complicated procedures, and paperwork currently associated with the legal requirement to show "competence" in safety matters. It also sets out to make procedures easier for the smaller and medium-sized firms (SMEs).

Paul Reeve, safety adviser at the Electrical Contractors Association, commented: "We welcome the Carpenter Report. Currently there are too many pre-qualification schemes working to different standards.

"This is adding to cost and paperwork. And it is giving SMEs the wrong message about the value of safety management.

"Core criteria should help everyone to assess whether a contractor has basic health and safety know-how."

The Carpenter Report also calls for the safety training of designers and co-ordinators to be regularised by the provision of benchmarks for the syllabus. It also recommends that those who deliver the training should in turn be assessed for their competency.

It concludes that the current review of the CDM Regulations offers "an opportunity the industry cannot afford to miss".

 Another new HSE research report looks at the health and safety responsibilities of company directors. It says there has been an increase from 75% in 2001 to 85% in 2005 in company boards with a named health and safety director.

Most directors were in favour of having their duties legally defined.