Construction Health and Safety Plan Template

A construction health and safety plan sets out how health and safety will be managed on your project. Under CDM 2015, this takes the form of the construction phase plan, but many contractors also maintain a broader company H&S plan that covers their general arrangements. This guide provides a template structure that covers both requirements.

Purpose and Legal Basis

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires every employer with five or more employees to have a written health and safety policy. This forms your company H&S plan. On construction projects, CDM 2015 additionally requires a construction phase plan to be prepared by the principal contractor before work starts.

In practice, your construction H&S plan should bring together your company policy, your project-specific arrangements, and your compliance with CDM 2015 into one coherent document that everyone on the project can access and understand.

Company H&S Plan vs Project Plan

Company H&S Policy covers your general approach to health and safety across all your work:

• Statement of intent signed by a director
• Organisation structure for H&S responsibilities
• General arrangements for risk assessment, training, consultation, etc.

Project H&S Plan (Construction Phase Plan) covers the specific arrangements for a particular project:

• Project-specific risks and controls
• Site rules
• Emergency procedures for this site
• Welfare arrangements
• Coordination with other contractors

Both documents should exist. The company plan provides the framework; the project plan provides the detail for each specific site.

Template Structure

A comprehensive construction health and safety plan should include the following sections:

1. Project Information - name, address, client, principal designer, principal contractor, HSE notification number
2. Management Structure - who is responsible for what, organisation chart, reporting lines
3. Risk Management - significant risks identified, control measures, RAMS management
4. Site Rules - PPE, working hours, drug/alcohol policy, housekeeping, permits
5. Induction and Training - induction requirements, ongoing training, toolbox talks
6. Emergency Procedures - fire, first aid, environmental incidents, severe weather
7. Welfare - toilets, washing, rest areas, drinking water
8. Health Management - noise, dust, vibration, COSHH, manual handling
9. Subcontractor Management - vetting, coordination, monitoring
10. Monitoring and Inspection - inspection schedules, audit programme
11. Incident Reporting - accident reporting, near misses, RIDDOR
12. Review Schedule - when and how the plan will be updated

Risk Management Section

This is the most important part of the plan. Identify the significant risks on your project and describe how they will be managed. Focus on risks that could cause serious harm. Common areas to address:

• Working at height - scaffolding, edge protection, roof work, ladder use
• Excavations - trench support, underground services, banksman requirements
• Structural stability - temporary works, propping, demolition sequence
• Lifting operations - crane plans, lift plans, appointed persons
• Fire - hot works permits, fire points, combustible storage
• Traffic management - vehicle/pedestrian segregation, reversing, banksmen
• Asbestos - survey results, management plan if present

For each risk, describe the specific controls, who is responsible, and how compliance will be monitored. Reference the individual risk assessments and method statements that apply.

Emergency Procedures

Your plan must include clear emergency procedures:

• Fire - alarm type, evacuation routes, muster point, fire wardens, fire fighting equipment locations
• Medical emergency - first aid provision, first aiders, nearest hospital, ambulance access route
• Environmental incident - spill kits, containment procedures, Environment Agency notification
• Structural emergency - evacuation triggers, exclusion zones, structural engineer contact
• Severe weather - wind speed limits for crane operations and working at height, lightning procedure, flooding response

Practice emergency procedures through drills. An untested emergency plan is an unreliable one.

Monitoring and Review

A plan that is not monitored is a plan that is not followed. Include:

• Daily site safety walks by the site manager
• Weekly formal safety inspections with written records
• Monthly management safety reviews
• Quarterly or project-phase audits
• Incident investigation and learning
• Plan review triggers (phase changes, incidents, enforcement visits)

Making It Work in Practice

The best H&S plans share these characteristics:

• Written in plain English - avoid jargon that obscures meaning
• Proportionate - scale the document to the project
• Specific - name names, state measures, give numbers
• Accessible - available to everyone on site, not locked in the site manager's desk
• Living - updated when circumstances change
• Communicated - everyone affected knows what is in it and what it means for them

Final Thoughts

A health and safety plan should be a practical tool that helps you manage real risks on real projects. If it sits in a folder gathering dust, it is not serving its purpose. Write it for the people who need to follow it, keep it updated, and monitor it consistently. That is how you keep people safe.