Small builder health and safety checklist

Business basics

• Appoint access to competent health and safety assistance
• Record a health and safety policy where five or more people are employed
• Maintain suitable employers’ liability insurance where required
• Provide appropriate information, instruction, training and supervision
• Consult workers about risks and controls affecting their work
• Keep arrangements for first aid, incidents and statutory reporting

Before each project

• Confirm the scope, client, site constraints and your CDM role
• Obtain relevant pre-construction information and survey limitations
• Allow enough time and resources to plan the work
• Prepare a proportionate construction phase plan before work starts
• Assess significant risks and develop a clear safe work sequence
• Check competence, plant, products, subcontractors and specialist input

On site

• Provide suitable welfare from the start
• Control access, vehicles, deliveries and risks to the public
• Check work at height, excavation, temporary works and service risks
• Brief the plan and RAMS in a way workers understand
• Inspect conditions and equipment at the required times
• Stop and reassess when the scope, design or conditions change

Evidence worth keeping

Keep records that show the arrangements are working: competence and training evidence, inspections, equipment checks, RAMS briefings, subcontractor decisions, incident actions and meaningful reviews. The amount should be proportionate, but it should be possible to explain what was decided and why.

HSE’s small builder guidance and construction site toolkit provide an official starting point. If you need someone competent to help organise the system, explore our remote safety support.