"He has worked for us for years" is not a site induction

"He has worked for us for years" is not a site induction.

Regulation 13(4) of CDM 2015 places three duties on the Principal Contractor, and they are easy to read straight past:

- Ensure a suitable site induction is provided

- Take reasonable steps to prevent access by unauthorised persons

- Ensure welfare facilities meeting Schedule 2 are provided throughout the construction phase

"Suitable" is doing a great deal of work in the first one.

A suitable induction describes that site, on that day. The live services. The current traffic management. The exclusion zone that went up on Tuesday. Where the muster point is, and who the first aiders are this week.

A corporate video recorded in 2019 is not that, however well it was made.

The test most sites fail is not whether inductions happen. It is whether the induction still describes the site. Sites change weekly. Inductions get written once.

The record matters as much as the delivery. If an operative was inducted and there is nothing to show for it, the position after an incident is the same as if they never were.

Three questions worth asking about your own site this week:

- When was the induction content last revised against what is actually on the ground?

- Could you produce, today, the record for every operative who signed in this morning?

- Who inducts the visitors, and the delivery drivers?

The third one is where most sites discover they have a gap.

This is part of our CDM 2015 series for Principal Contractors. Our free clients guide is available from the resources page.