Is a Method Statement/Risk Assessment necessary for private household?

[b3taman]

Hello folks,
I'm trying to establish whether a private householder should (strictly speaking) receive a Method Statement or Risk Assessment from a contractor starting a job for them? I've googled this but can't find a definitive answer.
The reason I'm asking is to establish whether a Residents Association (run as a Limited Company) is legally obliged to receive this from a contractor. I know any business employing contractors must do this, but what about a private householder or a Residents Association?
Many Thanks.

 

[wessex101]

It depends on the nature of the work but I suspect a "residents association" has always been treated as a commercial client. The Construction Design and Management Regulations were expanded last year to include domestic clients so either way it looks like a yes.

 

[b3taman]

OK, thanks Wessex 101.
I recently taken over the running of a Residents Association for 12 adjacent properties, and having run my own business for many years, I'm familiar with Risk Assessments etc.
I've now suggested to the mostly elderly residents that as a Residents Association we are obliged to have a Method Statement prepared by painting contractors who are starting in a couple of weeks on exterior painting. Some residents are suggesting that this is a bit unnecessary - "we've never done this before" etc etc
From what you've said above, does this mean that even if the contractors were treating each resident as an individual client they would/should still prepare method statements?
Personally, I don't really see what the fuss is about - it's not really costing the residents anything, but I think they're rather objecting on principle - "This is Health and Safety gone mad" etc.

 

[^woody^]

and having run my own business for many years, I'm familiar with Risk Assessments etc.

Hmmm, if so, then surely you will know that RAMS are not for the client's benefit and do not have to be provided to clients.

The purpose of RAMS, is for a company to assess the risks related to its work and determine those affected by its work, and then to devise safe systems of work to remove or mitigate the risks via the method statement.

As such RAMS are for the company, and its workforce.

Even under CDM, the requirement is that the Principle Contractor develop a plan of work and part of that is the preparing of any necessary RAMS for the work. Not to prepare RAMS for the client.

So your residents are correct, and they are not required to receive any RAMS from contractors. And personally, I'd suggest that you should not be creating a layer of bureaucracy unecessarily - this is why H&S gets a bad name, and that is "what all the fuss is about".

 

[b3taman]

Thanks for this Woody. I've found the CDM 2015 information on the HSE site and this is correct. But I see there is a duty to inform contractors of any risks which may not be immediately apparent, and having knowledge of what information the RAMS contains must be useful. I worked in horticulture and the received wisdom was that the site had a duty to ensure that any contractors coming onto the site had a RAMS prepared beforehand, but maybe this was an insurance requirement?
For the Residents Association, I'm really more concerned with protecting the residents interests than layering on any unnecessary bureaucracy.

 

[^woody^]

CDM (for small jobs without a designer) requires that the Contractor assesses the risk, and prepares a Construction Phase Plan - which is really just a compliation of all H&S things and a statement of how th ework is going to be done. If one contractor, then he does it (or they do it if its one at a time), but if there is a main contractor and sub contractors, then the main contractor does this. If there is a designer, then he does this function as Principle Designer, otherwise the contractor does this function

Within this plan the contractor will include any special risks - Asbestos is the main one, but contaminated land or other hazardous materials will apply. It is the contractors job to do this and to ask for the information, not your associations job to offer it. However, if there are specific risks that you want to make them aware of you can to save them some time, but that's not your duty.

But you can expect the contractor to do the necessary works, and if you or someone is overseeing the work, then you can request the RAMS and site of the contruction phase plan.

IMO, you would only convey to the residents information that is necesary - ie when work will be done, what will be done and if they need to take things into account - cordened areas, noise etc. I would not give them RAMs to read as that just creates confusion.

At the end of all the work, you should receive a H&S File which details all the work done, to where, materials removed or used and their data sheets etc. You keep this with the building documentation for future reference. You also update it as future work is done.

 

[wessex101]

I'm not a fan of the CDM Regs but the client does have a responsibilty to appoint a "principal contractor" and maybe others and part of that duty is to make sure the principal contractor fulfil their duties.
In practical terms the easiest way to do this is to ask for a copy of the contractors risk assessments and method statements. Most cowboys will just make excuses and change the subject. A good contractor will already have them prepared and will be happy to provide a copy.
We are probably only talking about working at height for an external redecoration contract so a contractor who cannot produce the necessary assessments and method statements probably shouldn't be doing the work.

 

[^woody^]

the client does have a responsibilty to appoint a "principal contractor

No appointing is done, the principle contractor is either the main contractor if more than one, or the single contractor if only one. This is by default.

 

[denso13]

It is quite onerous for a non-domestic clients and they must ensure, amongst other things, that a construction phase plan is drawn up by the contractor. The principal contractor should be appointed in writing if there is more than one contractor.

 

[jeds]

Most painting contractors would have a standard risk assessments for most of their activities. Why not just ask them if they have a document. I'll bet they email one over by return.

 

[b3taman]

Errr......... no Jeds, they don't!
They're a nice enough pair of experienced painters with excellent Checkatrade refs, but apparently "risk assessments" and "method statements" are a foreign language to them.
But I understand from Woody's comments that this is THEIR problem, not mine ?
Any further comments or suggestions?

 

[wessex101]

Errr......... no Jeds, they don't!
They're a nice enough pair of experienced painters with excellent Checkatrade refs, but apparently "risk assessments" and "method statements" are a foreign language to them.
But I understand from Woody's comments that this is THEIR problem, not mine ?
Any further comments or suggestions?

Checkatrade! Seriously? I refer you to my previous answer.

No decent contractor would need to pay one of these lead generating sites. You would be better off sticking a pin in the yellow pages than using one of those cowboy sites.

 

[jeds]

It would take less than half an hour to download the key risk assessments and have it in a standard form that could then be printed or emailed to anybody that asked for it. Why not give them a bit of guidance and bring them into the 21st Century. It could be your good deed for week.

 

[b3taman]

Thanks jeds, I will suggest they do this, but as I've been advised it's not a H&S requirement for them to present a RAMS document to me then I'm not going push the matter. It's their decorating business and they must run it as they see fit.
Just to say that also I'm still not absolutely clear whether a Residents Association could be described as a 'non-domestic client' as referred to by denso 13, and there doesn't seem to have been a definitive answer to this in this thread.

 

[jeds]

I can't point you to definitive answer but there's no doubt in my mind that working for a residents association would be commercial work. There are lots of parallels in my own business (building surveying) where I work for domestic clients on domestic properties and also commercial clients (property managers, developers, etc) on domestic properties.