What is a "Design Risk Assessment (DRA)"?

Design Risk Assessment, Designer Risk Assessment or DRA as it is commonly abbreviated, is a term used for the information provided by the designers on a construction project to the Principal Designer and other relevant project parties.

The term DRA is not mentioned in the CDM Regulations; however, it is now commonly used in the construction industry.

Why "Designer Risk Assessments (DRA)" are prepared?

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (the CDM Regulations) require construction project designers to provide comprehensive information, about the risks originating from their designs, to the Client, Principal Designer, other designers, Principal Contractor and contractors (Regulations 8(6), 9(3)(b) and 9(4)).

Please see section Designer CDM Duties for a detailed guidance on the relevant duties applicable to designers under the CDM Regulations 2015.

The above information to be provided by designers should include and cover the design, construction and post-completion occupation phases.

It is now a well established practice to use Designer Risk Assessments (DRAs) to fulfil the above requirements. However, this information can also be included on drawings etc.

The concept of Risk Assessment (and hence the term Design Risk Assessments - DRA) originates from Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 - Regulation 3. The Regulation requires assessment of health and safety risks for those who are affected by any undertaking (including construction projects).

What is the main purpose of DRA?

Any construction work (i.e., new builds, refurbishment, conversion, demolition etc) creates heath and safety risks to individuals who carry out the work, general public in the vicinity and also for those who occupy and regularly maintain the structure after its completion.

The main purpose of DRA is to inform the relevant project parties (i.e., Principal Designer, other Designers, Principal Contractor, Contractors and Client) of potential health and safety risks from the design (architectural, civil, building services etc) which need to be considered and managed on site and during the use, occupation and maintenance of the structure, as relevant.

What should be included in DRA?

In very simple terms, a DRA should include potential health and safety risks relevant to the design of construction work. The risks included should be those which have not been fully eliminated.

The HSE and CITB have also prepared a Red Amber and Green Lists - RAG Lists or sometimes called a CDM RAG List as a practical help to designers on what to eliminate, avoid and encourage in their designs.

Main legal requirements to be considered in DRA?

When preparing the DRA, the following are the main legal requirements to be considered.

1. Existing Pre-construction Information

This includes any relevant information about the existing site, for example contamination, existing soil conditions, underground, concealed of overhead services, presence of asbestos, previous use of the site, presence of other premises in the near vicinity etc.

2. General Principles of Prevention

General Principles of Prevention is the term used in the CDM Regulations to describe a need for a systematic way to be used in dealing with potential health and safety risks. This is also known as Hierarchy of Controls and is specified in Schedule 1 of Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

Designers, when considering the risks arising from their designs and specifications, must follow this hierarchy of controls. This is presented as follows in priority order and made relevant to construction work.

Eliminate: aim for complete removal of the risk from the design, for example a risk of coming in contact with overhead electric lines can be eliminated by moving the building footprint sufficiently away from the cables.

Reduce: if a complete removal is not possible or practicable, then try to reduce the level and extent of the potential risk from a significant to a low or manageable risk, for example by providing suitable handrail on a flat roof significantly reduces the risk of fall from height.

Specify: try to specify a less risky option in terms of materials to be used e.g., less hazardous or light in weight etc. In addition, give priority to collective prevention measures instead of individual prevention, e.g., a fixed handrail is preferable compared to individuals being expected to use a harness.

Segregate: aim for a physical separation of hazard from the individuals e.g., designated protected walkways for individuals physically separated from moving machinery, plant or vehicles etc.

Inform: it is very important to provide information about the potential design health and safety risks (except those which have been eliminated) and the measures as mentioned in the above steps (i.e., reduction, specification, segregations) and indeed any other relevant information to those project parties who are required to deal with these risks i.e. Principal Designer, other Designers, Principal Contractor, Contractors and Client etc.

Acronym ERSSI (eliminate, reduce, specify, segregate and inform) can be used to remember the above steps.

More information on the above is also available on HSE website designer section.

3. Particular Risks

Designers should also take into account certain high level risks as specified in Schedule 3 of CDM Regulations 2015. Brief details are as follows:

Work which involves:

1. Burial under earthfalls, engulfment in swampland or falling from a height
2. Chemical or biological substances
3. Ionizing radiation
4. High voltage power lines
5. Risk of drowning
6. Wells, underground earthworks and tunnels
7. Divers having a system of air supply
8. Caissons with a compressed air atmosphere
9. Use of explosives
10. Assembly or dismantling of heavy prefabricated components

4. Workplace Regulations

It is also a legal requirement as specified in the CDM Regulations for designers to consider the requirements of Workplace (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, where the use of the designed structure is intended to be a workplace.

What stages of construction should be included in DRAs?

A DRA should include potential health and safety risks involved in the following stages of construction.

Existing Site Conditions: for example, risk of contamination, adverse soil conditions, underground, concealed or unknow services or overhead (including high voltage) lines, risk of asbestos, previous potentially hazardous use of the site, presence of other premises in near vicinity which may cause potential risks (i.e., school, hospital or care home) etc.

Design: any particular design parameters used, or assumptions made which can introduce potential health and safety risks for example limited designed live loads or assuming that certain existing walls are load bearing and structural etc.

Construction: this should include potential health and safety risks on site when constructing the structure on site as specified in the design and specifications. For example particularly heavy or long structural beams or cladding the first or second floor wall next to the boundary wall with very limited space available.

Post Completion: this should include residual health and safety risks, which would still be present following the completion of site works and which are relevant to use, occupancy and maintenance of the structure. For example, lack of access to certain roofs or glazing or unremoved asbestos etc.

DRA Process

1. Identify: all potential health and safety risks applicable to existing site, design, construction and post construction.

2. Prioritize: those risks which may cause higher risk of a major or fatal injury.

3. Apply:ERSSI (eliminate, reduce, specify, segregate and inform) steps.

4. Check: the completed DRA or get a senior professional to have a look at it.

5. Issue: the completed DRA to relevant project parties in a timely manner.

6. Review: the previously completed DRA and re-issue when design changes have been made.

Essentials of a good DRA

Specific (non-generic): it should be specific to the relevant site issues in priority order and must not include generic and trivial matters.

Prompt: it should be prepared and issued to the project parties in a timely manner, so that they can consider and include the information when preparing CDM documentation e.g., Pre-construction Information (PCI), Construction Phase Plan (CPP) and Health and Safety File.

Precise: it should not be a very long, difficult to read document. A simple, precise and to the point document will have a good chance to be read and acted upon.

Design Risk Assessments (DRA) Example

What must not be included in the DRAs?

1. Unforeseeable health and safety risks.

2. Insignificant and trivial health and safety risks.

3. Basic, routine and standard construction health and safety risks that a good competent Principal Contractor should be expected to know. The key here is a “good and competent Principal Contractor”.

4. Exercising any undue site health and safety management function over the Principal Contractor and other contractor. They have their own specific CDM duties for this.

5. Specification of construction methods unless the design is non-standard or requires a particular method or assembly etc.

What alternative ways the information could be provided by the designers?

DRAs are not only method for providing the required information by the designers. Some alternative options are listed as follows:

1. Notes on the drawings. Highlighting the issue directly at relevant location on the drawing.

2. Design Risk Registers or CDM Risk Registers.

3. Listing the significant risks and control measures in a report.

4. Providing details as suggested construction method or component assembly sequence when not non-standard or not obvious.

5. Strategy document for post completion fire, cleaning, maintenance, plant replacement and access etc.

6. Residual risk registers for inclusion in Health and Safety File.

DRA Example

As part of the Design Risk Management pack, we at Safescope have developed 'A Practical Guidance on Designer Duties' and a 'Sample Design Risk Assessment (DRA)' to assist designers.

DRA Example and Template

A blank Designer Risk Assessment Template is available for download here in PDF and Word formats. Please see also a 'Example Design Risk Assessment (DRA)' for information.

Our feedback on DRAs we receive

We (Safescope) act as Principal Designer and receive a number of DRAs on a regular basis. Disappointingly, the majority of DRAs (almost 90%) tend to be very generic and a tick box exercise. In reality, DRAs are a great opportunity for designers to proactively inform the relevant parties about the risks that they are aware of in a project .

Residual Design Risk Assessment (DRAs) at post completion stage are essential to inform the client about the residual health and safety risks that the client is expected to manage. Failure to provide this information can lead to injuries during post completion phase resulting in potential liability or even prosecution for designers.

However, it is also a fact that there are no good examples or effective CPD training courses available to assist designers in writing project specific and effective DRAs. The DRA template should include design, pre-construction, construction and post completion sections and ideally should be no more than two A4 pages for a medium size project (say up to £1m).

Design Risk Assessments (DRA) Training

At Safescope, we offer a bespoke “Design Risk Identification and Assessment (DRA) Training” course, which has been developed to support designers (architects, structural engineers, civil engineers, building services and M&E engineers and quantity surveyors etc.) with hands-on step by step methods of identifying the health and safety risks in their designs and preparing and presenting effective Designer Risk Assessment (DRAs) for their projects. The training also includes a hands-on tutorial for designers on risk identification process on a typical or specific construction project. For more information on this training course please follow the link.

Other CDM Guidance

In addition to this, we at (Safescope) have also produced a number of other in-depth CDM Guides on various related topics. These guides are available on this website. Please follow the Link.

Need help?

We (Safescope) specialise in CDM and Construction Health and Safety and provide proactive yet cost effective CDM Principal Designer, Client CDM Advisor, Principal Contractor CDM Advisor roles and various CDM Training Courses. Please get in contact for an informal chat or a hassle free prompt fee proposal.

Our Contact Details

For further information and a prompt hassle free fee proposal please contact us as follows:

• Please complete details in the 'Safescope CDM Fee Proposal' form.
• Alternatively, please download and send us a completed CDM Enquiry Form and we will get back to you promptly.
• If you would rather talk to us then please contact Lindsey or Khalid on 01473 407020
• You can also get in touch with us by contact@safescope.com