What welfare facilities must a construction site provide? Toilets, washing facilities with hot and cold or warm running water, soap and drying, drinking water, changing rooms and lockers where needed, and a heated rest area with tables, seats with backs and a way to boil water and eat. Schedule 2 of CDM 2015 sets the minimum, and regulations 4(2)(b), 13(4)(c) and 15(11) make clients, principal contractors and every contractor responsible. Welfare must be in place from day one, including on small domestic jobs. Includes a Schedule 2 checklist, a day-one checklist, toilet numbers, mobile sites, domestic work, women on site and enforcement.

The fire triangle is the three things a fire needs: heat, fuel and oxygen. Almost every workplace fire prevention measure works by keeping one side away from the other two. This guide covers ignition sources, fuels and oxygen at work, the fire tetrahedron, how the triangle maps onto a fire risk assessment, which controls remove which side, a housekeeping checklist, fire doors, arson, how extinguishers break the triangle and lithium-ion batteries.

How to use power tools safely at work: what PUWER and the Electricity at Work Regulations require, the main hazards and controls, a pre-use checklist, safe working methods, circular saw kickback, 110V versus battery and 230V tools, chainsaw and abrasive wheel training, PPE, on-tool dust extraction, vibration, inspection, tagging and quarantining faulty tools, hired tools, and training for young workers.

There is no special lithium battery law for UK workplaces: lithium-ion batteries are managed through the ordinary fire risk assessment under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. But they fail differently, with thermal runaway, toxic gas and re-ignition. This guide covers where batteries are found at work, why they catch fire, the warning signs and what to do, a safe charging checklist, storing spare and damaged batteries, staff e-bikes and e-scooters, what to do in a fire, disposal, and updating your fire risk assessment.

How do you work safely on fragile roofs and rooflights? Treat every roof as fragile until a competent person confirms otherwise, avoid going on it where you can, and if you must, use staging, covers and guard rails, then safety nets, with warning notices and a rescue plan in place. Covers regulation 9 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, HSE’s HSG33 (fifth edition, 2020), which materials are fragile, who is most at risk, a before-anyone-goes-up checklist, asbestos cement roofs, and what an ACR Red Book non-fragile rating does and does not tell you.

What causes occupational asthma, from isocyanates in vehicle paints and flour dust to wood dust, solder flux fume, latex, laboratory animals and stainless steel welding fume; how sensitisation works; common causes by industry; the H334 label; symptoms and diagnosis; work-aggravated asthma; health surveillance under COSHH; RIDDOR reporting; prevention; what to do if a worker is sensitised; and IIDB prescribed disease D7.

No UK law says ‘service your fire extinguishers every year’. The Fire Safety Order requires appropriate fire-fighting equipment and a suitable system of maintenance; the monthly visual check, annual basic service and five- or ten-yearly extended service or overhaul come from BS 5306-3, as summarised by government, fire service and industry guidance. This guide covers the law across the UK, a servicing schedule by extinguisher type, a step-by-step monthly check and checklist, the annual service, BAFE, service labels, replacement, records, and small premises and HMOs.

What should a construction site induction cover? The site’s layout and safe routes, traffic and pedestrian segregation, current hazards, permits, PPE and site rules, welfare, first aid and emergency arrangements, reporting and who is in charge. CDM 2015 regulation 13(4)(a) requires the principal contractor to ensure a suitable site induction is provided, and regulation 15(9)(a) requires contractors to provide one where the principal contractor has not. A CSCS card is not an induction. Includes a checklist, a who-needs-what table for workers, subcontractors, visitors and delivery drivers, duration, checking understanding, records and re-induction.

Who can erect scaffolding in the UK? No law names a CISRS card. The Work at Height Regulations 2005 (Schedule 3 Part 2 para 12) require scaffolding to be assembled, dismantled or significantly altered only under the supervision of a competent person, by people with appropriate and specific training, with calculations unless a standard configuration such as TG20:21 is used and an assembly, use and dismantling plan. In practice CISRS is how competence is shown. Covers CISRS card grades, duty holders, TG20 and bespoke design, system vs tube and fitting, SG4:22, builders and homeowners, PASMA towers, section 169 Highways Act licences, alterations, handover certificates, trainees and a pre-erection checklist.

Some older textured coatings (Artex) contain a few per cent chrysotile asbestos and many do not; only sampling and UKAS-accredited lab analysis can tell. When asbestos stopped being added (1984 voluntary, 1988 prohibition, 1999 total ban); how risky it is; testing; painting, skimming, drilling and removal under HSE’s Asbestos essentials task sheets A26-A29; non-licensed vs notifiable non-licensed work; RPE; waste; landlords; a before-you-start checklist.