Blog
Guidance for people running construction sites
Practical writing on CDM 2015, RAMS and RIDDOR reporting, from the team building BuildOptix.
What is a RAMS, and why does every subcontractor need one?
If you're a subcontractor turning up to work on a construction project, you almost certainly need your own RAMS — and it needs to be specific to the work, not a stock document reused across every job.
RIDDOR is changing in 2026 — here's what's being proposed
The HSE opened a consultation in April 2026 proposing the biggest changes to workplace injury reporting since 2013 — including construction-specific threshold changes worth watching closely.
What is an F10 notification, and when do you need one?
Larger or longer-running construction projects have to be notified to the HSE before work starts — and the notification needs to be kept current if the project details change.
How to actually assess subcontractor competence, not just collect certificates
CDM 2015 expects a genuine judgement about whether a subcontractor can do the work safely — a folder of certificates is evidence towards that judgement, not a substitute for making it.
What a principal contractor is actually responsible for under CDM 2015
Coordinating health and safety across every contractor on site is the headline duty — but it extends into site rules, welfare facilities, and who's actually allowed on site at all.
Why near-miss reporting matters as much as reportable incidents
A near miss that goes unrecorded is a warning sign a site never gets to act on — and it's often the same underlying hazard that eventually produces a genuinely reportable incident.
CHAS, Constructionline and SSIP: what these accreditation schemes actually check
These schemes verify a baseline of health and safety competence — genuinely useful evidence, but not a substitute for a principal contractor's own judgement about a specific subcontractor and job.
What has to be in a construction phase plan
A construction phase plan needs to be a working document the site actually operates from — not a generic template produced once to satisfy a CDM requirement and then filed away.