Stephen Cork

Construction health and safety in coastal and maritime engineering

Over £500 million is spent on coastal and maritime construction in the UK every year. This work is particularly hazardous due to the hostile environment and uncertainty caused by the combination of storms, waves, currents and tides. At present, there is little health and safety related guidance available to assist coastal/maritime clients, designers, contractors and other stakeholders to ensure this work is undertaken in a safe manner. The CDM Regulations, amongst others regulations, require these parties to consider and assess construction risks. Without information and guidance on safe practice in the marine environment, it is not only difficult to undertake safety assessments but these assessments may be misguided and incorrect. HR Wallingford, in detailed consultation with a wide range of design engineers, clients and contractors have lead a research project to address these issues. This guidance document has now been produced to cover best practice in safety management of coastal and maritime design and construction work. The document identifies and analyses the principal causes of accidents in the coastal/maritime engineering sector and contains relevant guidelines for good practice to assist all stakeholders to understand and address the real safety risk issues and promote best practice in the coastal/maritime engineering sector.