Guideline 11. Health and safety

Health and safety requirements need to be considered for the installation, operation and maintenance of all artworks.

Normally the installations are sufficiently small that the project manager or artist can address these issues, but sometimes a dedicated planning supervisor is required.

There are also specific health and safety requirements for the designers and the contractors as indicated below.

This guideline has been written for Commissions North by Arup Newcastle, the regional office of Ove Arup and Partners International.

Click on a heading below for more information or scroll down the page to read the whole guideline.

• CDM requirements
• On-site responsibilities
• Planning supervisors
• Ove Arup and Partners International

CDM requirements

CDM – Construction Design and Management– refers to the designers’ legal responsibilities to ensure that what they detail and specify can be built and maintained safely.

If it has been necessary to appoint a consultant engineer, for instance, they may be required to produce a designer’s risk assessment, stating how they addressed the construction and operational risks inherent in their design proposals. They have to demonstrate that all unduly risky procedures necessary for the construction, operation and maintenance of their design have been eliminated, reduced or identified and controlled.

This statement is then passed on to the contractor (or planning supervisor, if one has been appointed) to ensure that they are fully acquainted with the risks associated with the design, thereby enabling them to mitigate against any that remain.

On-site responsibilities

The contractor (if one is appointed) is responsible for all of the on-site health and safety issues, including conforming to all the relevant health and safety requirements.

Normally this will include adequate site demarcation to ensure that passers-by do not encroach into hazardous areas and the preparation of detailed method statements outlining the procedures that are necessary for the installation of the artwork.

It is unusual for the consultants to have any site supervision requirements, unless specifically notes in their scope of works.

Planning supervisors

For large projects, or ones involving significant demolition, it will be necessary to appoint a planning supervisor to ensure that the necessary CDM and health and safety responsibilities are carried out.

Typically, if a project will involve more than five operatives on site, or is expected to take more than 30 days on site, then a planning supervisor must be appointed.

This may entail notifying the Health and Safety Executive of the works, as well as assembling a health and safety plan before the construction, and a health and safety file afterwards to deal with the operation, maintenance and dismantlement issues. In many cases, the project manager can also assume the role of planning supervisor.

Ove Arup and Partners International

This guideline has been written for Commissions North by Arup Newcastle, the regional office of Ove Arup and Partners International, which employs several consultant engineers who have been involved in artwork projects worldwide.

Arup also have considerable experience of project management, project co-ordination, computer visualisation, fabric structures architecture, acoustical engineering, and planning supervision.

Matthew Birchall and John Gregory, Arup Newcastle, will be able to advise on individual projects, if required. For more information, visit www.arup.com, email matthew.birchall@arup.com, or telephone 0191 261 6080.