UK Construction Safety Glossary

Asbestos is a group of naturally occurring fibrous minerals widely used in UK construction until the 1999 ban — still present in millions of buildings and the single biggest occupational killer of UK workers.

CDM 2015 is the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 — the legal framework that allocates health and safety duties on UK construction projects.

A competent person is someone with the skills, knowledge, experience and training to carry out a specific health and safety task — judged against the task, not in the abstract.

A confined space is any place that is substantially enclosed where there is a reasonably foreseeable specified risk — fire, explosion, asphyxiation, drowning or loss of consciousness from heat, fumes or oxygen deficiency.

The construction phase plan (CPP) is the principal contractor's written plan setting out how health and safety will be managed across a construction project.

COSHH is the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 — the UK regulations that require employers to control exposure to hazardous substances.

An F10 is the form the client (or someone acting on their behalf) must use to notify the HSE of a notifiable construction project under CDM 2015.

The hierarchy of controls is the prioritised list — eliminate, substitute, engineering controls, administrative controls, PPE — that risk assessments must work through in order.

Hot works are any activity that produces heat, sparks or open flame — welding, grinding, cutting, brazing, soldering, blowtorch use and bitumen heating.

Lone working is any work carried out without close or direct supervision — not just literal solo work, but any situation where a worker cannot easily summon help.

A method statement is a written description of how a specific task will be carried out safely, step by step, on a specific site.

A permit to work is a formal written authorisation that a specific high-risk task can proceed at a specific time, signed by a competent person after pre-task checks.

PPE — Personal Protective Equipment — is equipment worn or held by a worker to protect them from hazards that cannot otherwise be controlled.

Under CDM 2015, the principal contractor is the contractor appointed by the client to control the construction phase of any project involving more than one contractor.

RAMS stands for Risk Assessment Method Statement — a single document that combines a hazard assessment with the safe sequence of work used to control those hazards.

A risk assessment is the structured process of identifying hazards, judging who could be harmed, and recording the controls used to reduce the risk to an acceptable level.

Respirable crystalline silica (RCS) is the fine, lung-penetrating dust released when materials containing silica — concrete, brick, stone, mortar, tile — are cut, ground or drilled.

A site induction is the briefing every worker must receive from the principal contractor before they begin work on a UK construction site.

"Suitable and sufficient" is the standard set by Regulation 3 of the MHSWR 1999 — a risk assessment must identify the significant hazards, be proportionate to the risk, and inform safer work.

Working at height is any work where a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury — there is no minimum height under UK law.