Blog
Guidance for people running construction sites
Practical writing on CDM 2015, RAMS and RIDDOR reporting, from the team building BuildOptix.
Rolling out compliance software without disrupting a live site
The software itself is rarely what determines whether a rollout works — it's whether site staff actually adopt it during the first few genuinely busy weeks, before old habits reassert themselves.
Read the article →RIDDOR dangerous occurrences: the incidents that count even when nobody's hurt
A scaffold collapse or a crane failure with no injury can still be reportable — dangerous occurrences are RIDDOR's way of catching a genuinely serious hazard before it produces a casualty.
Plant and machinery inspection records: what LOLER and PUWER actually require
Two overlapping sets of regulations govern lifting equipment and general work equipment on a construction site — and confusing which applies to what is a common, avoidable gap in a site's inspection records.
Toolbox talks: what actually counts as adequate evidence
A stack of generic handouts signed without being read isn't evidence of anything except that paper changed hands — what actually holds up is specific, current, and tied to the work happening that week.
Working at height: the regulations behind the leading cause of construction fatalities
There's no minimum height threshold in UK law — the Work at Height Regulations apply the moment a fall could cause injury, whether that's from a roof or a stepladder.
Permit-to-work systems: when a RAMS on its own isn't enough
For a narrow band of genuinely high-risk tasks — hot work, confined spaces, live electrical work — a RAMS alone doesn't provide the moment-by-moment control a permit-to-work system is built to give.
The Health and Safety File: what it must contain, and who's actually responsible for it
The health and safety file gets assembled during a project most people never think about again — until someone renovating the building years later needs to know exactly what's behind a wall they're about to open up.
RIDDOR, explained: what has to be reported to the HSE, and when
Not every workplace accident is RIDDOR-reportable — but the categories that are carry firm timeframes, and getting the judgement wrong in either direction has real consequences.
CDM 2015, explained: who's responsible for what on a construction site
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 split responsibility across five named duty-holders — and knowing which one you actually are changes what you're legally required to do.