Page 1 of 30

Safety Leadership Best Practice Note

This learning bulletin contains guidance on safety leadership and putting people to work safely. It contains

examples of best practise from around the Laing O’Rourke business.

Policy

The senior leadership team should clearly communicate their vision and values to the team and workforce,

consistent with the companies Health and Safety Policy. Vision and values are most effectively reinforced by

leadership behaviours which will ultimately set the project culture. The leadership team should be highly visible at

key points of influence such as Daily Activity Briefings.

Organisation

The project organisation chart needs to be clear, with area owners clearly identified. Roles and responsibilities

need to be recorded and agreed. On site there needs to be clarity regarding how work areas are divided and who

has ownership of each area. The project leadership should pre-plan organisation arrangements for changes in the

scope of the works and changes in personnel.

Implementation

The Risk assessment process follows a hierarchy, from risk assessment and development of methodology, through

to development of task sheets, and then finally daily activity briefings and point of work risk assessment. They are

as described below:

• Method statement and risk assessments. These are generally high level documents which include reference to

quality and environmental issues as well as health and safety issues. Typically they are prepared by members

of the site management team and are approved by senior members of the team and third parties. These are

typically unsuitable for briefing the workforce due to the amount of information that they contain. Risks and

the corresponding control measures should be transferred to Task Sheets.

• Task sheets. Short, clear documents that clearly explain the task to be carried out, and the associated risks

and control measures. They should be prepared by members of the site management team in conjunction

with site supervisors, and key members of the workforce. Initial briefing of the task sheet should be in a

meeting room environment, and the workforce asked to contribute. They should be visual to ensure that

communication is effective, particularly for members of our workforce for whom English is not a first

language.

• Daily activity briefing. The Daily Activity Briefing is the forum where risks associated with the day’s tasks are

reviewed. Environment, change of personnel, programme, sequencing and design change are amongst some

of the factors that could introduce additional risk. These should happen at the place of work, in small groups,

typically of 8-10 people and be delivered by the “Controlling Mind” for the area who would typically be a

supervisor or engineer. The benefit of the briefings taking place at the place of work are that any interface

risks or those associated with the working environment will be readily apparent. Those delivering the

briefings should reference the relevant task sheets being used in that shift. Typically any factors caused by

change can be assessed and dealt with through verbal communication and a management control measure. If

there is any uncertainty regarding the impact of the change on the task in hand, this should be referred to the

manager who has produced the task sheet.

• Active risk assessment. It is foreseeable that a number of factors could influence the tasks in hand over the

course of the working day. The workforce should continually carry out active risk assessment using systems

such as “Take 5” or the STAR system used at Sellafield. The workforce must be made aware that if they

become aware of change that increases the risk associated with their task they must stop and contact the

relevant supervisor. Similarly if they are not suitably qualified to carry out the task they must stop.

Page 2 of 30

Detailed pre-planning is critical to the effectiveness of the above, particularly at the workface .Those delivering

DABs need to meet briefly ahead of the briefings to ensure that interfaces and the impact of concurrent works are

understood. Building Information Modelling (BIM) should be used to maximise the effectiveness of the pre-

planning process. BIM allows the construction team to visualise the build sequence, identify risks and agree

control measures in a ‘controlled environment’ prior to commencing works on-site.

There is a misconception that the company needs Daily Activity Briefings recorded daily with signatures obtained

from all of those. This is not the case, and this focus on obtaining paperwork is devaluing the process. The

guidance in the SMS is that a weekly summary of the DABs should be kept by the person delivering them – no

signatures are required from attendees.

Planning and Monitoring

• Development of the overall method statements and risk assessments should be collaborative and involve as

many stakeholders as possible, including designers, supply chain and supervisors. The experience of the

manager developing the method statement and risk assessment should be taken into consideration and

support provided. This may include specialist input. The person approving these documents should fully

understand the process that has taken place. A clear hierarchy of approval should be in place.

• The quality of task sheets should be verified by observation on site, including feedback from the workforce.

This should be led by the manager who developed the task sheet.

Audit

Senior management should review their process for measuring the effectiveness of the above. Observing

activities on site and engaging with the workforce is the simplest, most effective form of audit available to us.

Appendices- References from the SMS and Best practise

The following Appendices provide supporting material to the notes above:

Appendix A – Companies Health & Safety Policy 3

Appendix B - Good Practise Example from our Project at Hetco 4

Appendix C - “Command and Control” Structure from London Gateway Ports. 5-8

Appendix D - Typical Individual’s Roles and Responsibilities, including those relating to Health and

Safety.

9-11

Appendix E - Example of Visible Communication of Area Leadership from Manchester Metro. 12

Appendix F – Management of risk and operational control – an overview 13

Appendix G - Minimum Contents of a Method Statement 14-15

Appendix H - Suitable Task Sheet Format 16-17

Appendix I – Extract from Visual Task Sheet 18-20

Appendix J – Methodology in Developing Task Sheets at the Heathrow car park project. 21-27

Appendix K - Suitable “Point of Work Risk assessment“.

Appendix L – Daily Activity Briefing Record sheet

28-29

30

Page 3 of 30

Appendix A – Companies Health & Safety Policy

Page 4 of 30

Appendix B - Good Practise Example from our Project at Hetco

Page 5 of 30

Appendix C - “Command and Control” Structure from London Gateway Ports

Page 6 of 30

Page 7 of 30

Page 8 of 30

Page 9 of 30

Appendix D - Typical Individual’s Roles and Responsibilities, including those relating to Health and Safety

Page 10 of 30

Page 11 of 30

Page 12 of 30

Appendix E - Example of Visible Communication of Area Leadership from Manchester Metro.

Page 13 of 30

Appendix F - Guidelines on carrying out risk assessments and method statements, and the factors to be considered.

Page 14 of 30

Appendix G - Minimum Contents of a Method Statement

Page 15 of 30

Page 16 of 30

Appendix H - Suitable Task Sheet Format

Page 17 of 30

Page 18 of 30

Appendix I – Extract from Visual Task Sheet

Page 19 of 30

Page 20 of 30

Page 21 of 30

Appendix J – Methodology in Developing Task Sheets at the Heathrow car park project.

Page 22 of 30

Page 23 of 30

Page 24 of 30

Page 25 of 30

Page 26 of 30

Page 27 of 30

Page 28 of 30

Appendix K - Suitable “Point of Work Risk assessment”

Page 29 of 30

Page 30 of 30

Appendix L - Daily Activity Briefing Record sheet