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A shared construction site needs a coordinated risk assessment of both each contractor’s own work and the hazards created where activities, people, vehicles, services or access arrangements overlap. In Great Britain, CDM 2015 places coordination duties on the principal contractor for a project involving more than one contractor; where separate projects share a site and neither principal contractor controls the whole site, the principal contractors must cooperate, coordinate their work and account for shared interfaces. The practical process is to establish who controls each area, gather and review relevant contractor information, agree controls and owners, brief everyone affected, then monitor and revise the arrangements as work changes.
This guide explains how to do that in the UK CDM 2015 context. Dutyholder titles and legal requirements described here should not be assumed to apply in other countries. Apply the assessment to the actual project, work and site, using current HSE guidance and competent advice where needed.
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It must consider risks from individual tasks and risks created by the way different tasks and site arrangements interact. A contractor’s assessment of its own work is important, but it may not show how that work affects another crew, a shared route, a common service, site occupants or the public. The principal contractor needs relevant contractor information to plan and coordinate the construction phase, while each contractor remains responsible for work under its control.
For example, a delivery route may cross a pedestrian route used by several contractors; an electrical supply may serve more than one work area; or one crew’s work may change access for another. These are not just separate task hazards: they are interfaces that need an agreed site-level arrangement. HSE specifically identifies shared traffic routes and common electrical distribution as examples of risks that can affect multiple contractors. See its guidance on principal contractor responsibilities and CDM 2015 guidance, L153.
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There is not necessarily one document called “the shared-site risk assessment.” The practical outcome is a joined-up assessment process: contractor-level assessments and method statements inform project arrangements, and the construction phase plan communicates the project’s health and safety arrangements, site rules and specified controls. The records should make clear what is to happen, where it applies, who maintains it, and how affected people will be told.
Who coordinates the assessment when several contractors share a site?
For a CDM project involving more than one contractor, the client appoints a principal contractor in writing to plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety during the construction phase. The client also has duties to make suitable arrangements for managing the project. The principal contractor prepares the construction phase plan before construction begins and keeps it under review as the work progresses. HSE sets out these responsibilities in its pages on principal contractors and the principal contractor role.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteThat appointment does not remove a contractor’s responsibility for its own work. Contractors must plan, manage and monitor the work under their control, coordinate with others, follow relevant directions and construction phase plan provisions, and provide the principal contractor with relevant health and safety information. Workers should understand and follow site arrangements, cooperate with dutyholders and report risks that could endanger themselves or others. See HSE guidance for contractors and construction workers.
A site may also contain separate, independent projects. If no single principal contractor has overall control, the principal contractors involved must cooperate, coordinate their work and take account of shared interfaces, such as shared traffic routes. In that situation, do not assume that the principal contractor for one project controls every area or activity on the site. Identify and record the boundaries of control and agree how project leads will coordinate at the interfaces. This specific shared-project arrangement is addressed in HSE’s CDM 2015 guidance, L153.
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Planning should be proportionate to the project’s complexity and risk. HSE’s guidance says: “The effort devoted to planning should be proportionate to the complexity of the project and the level of risks involved.” A simple, stable work area may need a less elaborate coordination process than a changing site with several contractors, shared services and overlapping work; in either case, people need clear arrangements that can be followed.
How do you conduct the assessment step by step?
Use the steps below before work begins, then repeat or adjust them when the work, site or risk picture changes. The purpose is not to create paperwork for its own sake; it is to identify hazards, decide workable controls and ensure that each affected party knows its responsibilities.
- Define the site, projects and boundaries. Mark the areas and activities included in the assessment, including access routes, shared facilities and relevant time periods. Identify the client, principal designer, principal contractor, contractors and anyone controlling a separate area or independent project. Where projects overlap, specify who controls each area and how their leads will coordinate. A boundary should be operationally clear: people need to know where a control applies and who can authorize a change.
- Gather the information needed to plan the work. Review pre-construction and design information, the programme, existing site rules and known hazards. Ask each contractor for relevant task risk assessments and method statements, and look for activities that could affect adjacent work, shared services, occupied areas, access routes or the public. The principal contractor may need these assessments and method statements to understand hazards and plan the construction phase; contractors should provide relevant information. HSE’s planning guidance and contractor responsibilities explain this coordination role.
- Walk the site and identify who could be harmed. Consider work by location and sequence rather than reviewing activities only as isolated tasks. Include workers employed by different contractors, visitors, delivery drivers, occupants and members of the public where relevant. Look for hazards arising from the work itself and from how or when it is carried out beside other work. HSE’s risk assessment guidance advises considering hazards linked to the work and coordinating with others who share the site.
- Find the interfaces and agree controls. For each meaningful interaction, record the hazard, who may be affected, the control, who owns it, and how affected people will know the control is in place. Check, at minimum, shared vehicle and pedestrian routes, deliveries and reversing; simultaneous or adjacent work, including work above or below another crew; common electrical supplies and temporary services; isolations and plant access; restricted areas, lifting zones, work at height and excavations; dust, noise or hazardous substances that may affect nearby work; and emergency access, boundaries and welfare. These prompts must be adapted to the actual site: they are not a substitute for site-specific assessment.
- Put the arrangements in the right project documents. Feed relevant findings into the construction phase plan and site rules. The plan should describe the project’s health and safety arrangements, site rules and measures for specified high-risk work. Give each contractor the information relevant to its activities and make the shared arrangements understandable at site inductions and work briefings. HSE’s planning for construction work guidance covers the plan’s role and need to keep arrangements current.
- Check the controls and revise them when needed. Monitor whether agreed methods are being followed and whether controls still work as the programme and site layout change. Review the assessment when the sequence, design, access, contractors or conditions change, or when monitoring and reported concerns show a control is not working. Update the construction phase plan as the project develops, and tell affected people about relevant changes.
How should you record a shared-site interface?
A useful record is concise enough to use but specific enough to assign action. For each interface, capture the activity and location, hazard, people who could be affected, agreed control, accountable party, how it will be communicated, and what needs checking. Add timing or sequence where the control depends on when work takes place. The record should allow the principal contractor and contractors to see where their responsibilities meet, not just list generic hazards.
| Activity or interface | What to record |
|---|---|
| Deliveries crossing a shared pedestrian route | Where the crossing occurs; who may use it; the agreed route and arrangements for delivery movements; who maintains or changes the arrangement; how drivers and workers are briefed; and how route changes are communicated. |
| Work above or beside another crew | Which work areas and times overlap; who could be exposed; what separation, access or sequencing arrangements are agreed; which contractor controls them; and how the other crew will know when the area is safe to enter. |
| Common electrical distribution or temporary services | Which areas or activities rely on the service; who controls access or relevant changes; how planned work or isolation is coordinated; who must be informed; and how the arrangement is checked before affected work proceeds. |
| Dust, noise or hazardous substances affecting neighbouring work | The source and affected work areas; who may be exposed; the control agreed for the task and neighbouring crews; who implements it; how the work is coordinated; and how concerns or changed conditions are reported. |
These are illustrative prompts, not pre-approved controls. The correct measure depends on the hazard, the actual site, the work sequence and who has authority and resources to maintain the arrangement. If more than one control could work, prefer an option that prevents exposure rather than only reducing consequences, protects people from different employers, remains workable across the planned sequence, has an identifiable owner and can be communicated and checked. That is a practical way to apply HSE’s emphasis on coordination and consistent management of shared risks.
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A simple responsibility matrix can make handoffs clearer. It might identify the contractor proposing the work, the party coordinating the interface, the person controlling the affected area, and who must be informed before the arrangement changes. Do not leave a shared control as “everyone’s responsibility”: name the role or party that will put it in place and check it, while making clear what others must do to cooperate.
How do the risk assessment and construction phase plan differ?
A risk assessment identifies hazards, evaluates risks to employees and others, and records significant findings and controls. The construction phase plan is the project-level document describing health and safety arrangements, site rules and specified risk controls. They work together but are not interchangeable: contractor assessments and method statements help inform the project plan, while the plan communicates shared arrangements across the construction phase.
Employers must assess construction-site risks. HSE says significant findings must be recorded where five or more people are employed. This threshold relates to recording significant findings; it does not mean smaller employers can skip assessing risks. HSE also notes that particular regulations require assessments for certain hazards, including work at height, hazardous substances, manual handling, noise, vibration and lead. See HSE’s guidance on construction health and safety administration and assessing risks.
For a project involving more than one contractor, the principal contractor prepares the construction phase plan before the construction phase begins and reviews it as the work develops. It should remain current as site conditions or design change. The plan is not a substitute for the contractors’ own planning and control of their work; neither should contractor paperwork be treated as a substitute for project-level coordination.
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How do you communicate the controls to workers and contractors?
Give each contractor the information relevant to its work, then explain the site-wide arrangements at induction and reinforce them in work briefings where needed. A worker should be able to understand which routes, restrictions, services and agreed coordination arrangements affect their work, and whom to tell if something changes or a control is missing. Site rules should reflect the actual project arrangements rather than be a generic document detached from the work.
Communication is two-way. HSE guidance says workers should be consulted on matters affecting their health, safety and welfare. Workers may identify practical conflicts or changes that were not apparent during planning; they should follow site arrangements, cooperate with dutyholders and report risks affecting themselves or others. The principal contractor must arrange suitable inductions and coordinate contractors during the construction phase. See HSE’s pages on principal contractors and workers.
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When a shared control changes, tell the contractors and workers who rely on it before the change affects their work. Updating a document without making the relevant people aware does not resolve the interface. Likewise, a briefing is not a substitute for checking whether the control has actually been put in place and remains workable.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What commonly goes wrong on a shared site?
- Assessments stop at each contractor’s boundary. A task assessment may cover its crew’s work but miss effects on neighbouring work or shared access. Check the handoffs and overlapping activities explicitly.
- No one is sure who controls an area. This is especially problematic where independent projects overlap. Clarify area and activity control, then agree how the project leads will coordinate shared interfaces.
- A control is agreed but has no owner. Record who is responsible for putting it in place, maintaining it and communicating a change. Others still have cooperation duties, but a control needs a clear lead.
- The plan no longer reflects the site. Programme, design, layout, access or contractor changes can make a previously workable arrangement unsuitable. Reassess and update project arrangements when those changes affect risk.
- Workers receive paperwork but not usable instructions. Put relevant arrangements into inductions, site rules and briefings, and consult workers on matters affecting them. Make routes, restrictions and responsibilities clear at the point of work.
- Monitoring is treated as a one-time sign-off. Check that agreed methods are followed and listen to reports that a control is not working. Use the findings to revise the arrangements and brief affected people.
For broader construction health and safety context, HSE’s publication Health and safety in construction (HSG150) is a relevant reference. The site-specific assessment and coordination still need to be developed for the project and its actual conditions.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does every contractor need to provide a risk assessment and method statement?
Contractors should provide the principal contractor with relevant health and safety information, and the principal contractor may need contractor risk assessments and method statements to understand hazards and plan the work. What information is relevant depends on the work and its interfaces; the documents do not remove either party’s duties to coordinate and manage risks.
Can one principal contractor control two separate projects on the same site?
The key issue is who has actual overall control and how shared interfaces are coordinated, not simply whether projects occupy the same location. Where no single principal contractor is in overall control, HSE’s CDM guidance says the principal contractors involved must cooperate, coordinate their work and account for shared interfaces.
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Does a small contractor with fewer than five employees need to assess risks?
Yes. The five-or-more-people threshold in HSE guidance concerns recording significant findings; it is not an exemption from assessing construction-site risks. Specific regulations may also require assessments for particular hazards.
What should a worker do if a shared-site control is missing or no longer works?
Workers should follow site arrangements, cooperate with dutyholders and report risks that could endanger themselves or others. The concern should be passed to the relevant site lead so the work and shared arrangement can be reviewed, corrected and communicated to everyone affected.
