Can you dig it
Contractors must:
Comply with other relevant health and safety requirements.
Ensure that a trained and competent supervisor (Site Safety Supervisor, SMSTS / SSSTS or equivalent) is appointed to manage the works under their control and is available at all times on-site.
Comply with the McLaughlin & Harvey ‘permit-to-dig’ requirements.
Comply with the principles enshrined within the HSG47 ‘Avoiding danger from underground services’ and GS6 ‘Avoiding danger from overhead power lines’
Prior to works commencing, review and confirm site surveys to identify structures, underground services, overhead power lines, unexploded ordinance etc.
Use appropriate CAT & Genny scanning devices to verify the position of all services already noted on service drawings provided and to identify others that may not already have been identified. Such devices must be calibrated and in date. Users of such equipment will be required to provide evidence of their competency and training to do so prior to use. Scans must be completed in a grid formation to cover all areas.
Provide the necessary data to allow the piling rig(s) mat to be designed and verified by suitably qualified persons to demonstrate the correct bearing capacity to adequately support the rig(s) relevant to the ground and environmental conditions at the proposed work sites.
Confirm that they are in possession of sufficiently detailed information regarding existing services – their depth, routes, locations within the confines of the site and other areas that may be affected by their undertakings. Surveys should also identify the ground conditions to the full depth of the piles, anticipated effects of noise and vibration on the local environment and access and egress characteristics of the site.
Ensure that plant and machinery has adequate interlocking guards and signage around moving parts or mechanisms to prevent entrapment.
Specify exclusion zones as appropriate.
Specify and include within site specific risk assessments, work at height maintenance requirements that will necessitate access to parts of the rig(s) above ground level.