Civil Engineering Project Management (4th Edition)

100 Civil Engineering Project Management
of quality should take place as soon as an operation starts, or as soon as
material to be used in the permanent works is delivered to site.
9.6 The resident engineer’s duties with regard to safety
The safety regulations applying to construction in the UK are described in detail
in Chapter 10. Under the CDM Regulations, there must be a health and safety
plan drawn up by the employer’s planning supervisor and extended by the
‘principal contractor’ to cover special or unusual aspects of the project. Primarily
it is the responsibility of the contractor to comply with such a plan as needed for
construction, and all safety regulations, as required by the ICE conditions of
Contract (Clauses 8(3), 15(1) and 19(1)).
The RE will normally be appointed the engineer’s Safety Manager on site.
Hence he must ensure that his staff and any visitors he brings to site conform
with all safety requirements and co-operate with the contractor. If the RE shows
visitors round the site, he should advise the agent that he wishes to do so, and
should see such visitors are accompanied when touring the site and have been
informed of the safety rules. Normally all formal visits by outside bodies to
view the project should be prior agreed with the contractor or his agent.
If the RE notices a failure by the contractor to comply with a statutory safety
regulation or any site safety rule, he should inform the agent or contractor’s
Safety Supervisor and request compliance. The RE’s request should be verbal
in the first instance, since the failure might not have come to the notice of the
agent or Safety Supervisor. If the correct safety measures are not adopted
within a reasonably short time, a written note should be sent to the agent
confirming the requirement. If the contractor still does not comply, the RE can
instruct the contractor to comply, suspending the unsafe works if necessary or
warning him that he proposes to call in the Health and Safety Inspector – but
this action should not be adopted until all possible means of persuasion have
failed. It would be impolitic of the RE to contact the Health and Safety
Inspectorate without first warning the contractor. Also the RE must be sure of
his grounds, and it must be borne in mind that a Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) Inspector might not be available to visit the site immediately.
9.7 Relationship between the resident engineer
and the contractor’s agent
The RE must not be surprised to find that, on a new job, he is at first treated
with considerable circumspection by the agent. He has to be, because one of
the unknown factors the contractor has yet to discover which is of considerable
importance to him, is what kind of RE will be in charge. The agent will