IStructE Core Objective 08: Health, Safety and Risk Management

A number of health & safety regulations in place in the UK are appropriate to structural designers:

• Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
• Construction Design and Management (CDM) Regulations 2015
• Building Safety Act 2022

Structural designers in the UK are expected to be familiar with the requirements of these legislations. If you are working outside the UK, you will still have to demonstrate experience or familiarity working within the laws of your respective country.

In the UK, the CDM 2015 regulations defines important roles and duties for various stakeholders such as the Client, Principal Designer, Principal Contractor and more. This is a good place to start for this objective, and you could supplement your experience here by attending a CDM course.

Other good sources of health and safety information in the UK include:

• HSE bulletins
• CROSS Health and Safety Reports
• IStructe Managing Health and Safety Risks series

What to say in your Final Report

• Examples of designers risk assessments you have produced, special risks you may identified and how you mitigated those risks
• Describe any health & safety info you may have read, like CROSS reports, and where you might have applied or reference them in certain projects
• If you have read the IStructE "Managing Health and Safety Risks" series, you can describe it here too
• List the relevant training course you've been on
• Describe the health and safety policies you follow at your workplace, such as a lone working policy, not being allowed to visit sites alone, risk assessments prior to site visits, etc.
• Give some examples of how your design has considered and mitigated against risk
• Give some examples of when you have made a comment about health and safety on site
• Sharing or reporting information to CROSS

What to Include in your Final Portfolio

• Designer's risk assessments you have produced
• Report extracts with relevance to health and safety
• Training course attendance certificates

What kind of questions to expect in your Interview?

Here are a few example questions which you might be asked for your Professional Review Interview:

• What is a Principal Designer and Principal Contractor?
• As a structural designer, what is your role within the CDM regulations? Principal designer? Designer?
• Have you done a designer's risk assessment?
• Give an example of a CROSS safety report you have read recently (or other safety reports relevant to your region).
• In the UK, what are two key documents that need to be produced for H&S? One at the start of a project, and one at the end.
• In the UK, under the CDM 2007 regulations, what is a notifiable project?
• How should risks be conveyed on projects?
• How do you divide risk and responsibility on a project?
• What safety precautions would you take when entering a derelict building?