Health & Safety Policy

Lead Group Limited is committed to providing and maintaining a safe working environment for its employees, and to conducting its work so that people who are not employees are not exposed to risks to their health or safety.

We meet our duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the regulations made under it, and our duties as a designer under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.

Overall responsibility for health and safety rests with the Director, who signs this policy. Every engineer is responsible for their own safety and for the safety of those affected by their work.

As a designer we eliminate foreseeable risks to the health and safety of anyone building, maintaining, using or demolishing a structure, so far as is reasonably practicable. Where a risk cannot be eliminated we reduce or control it, and we provide information about any significant risk that remains.

Risk information is issued with the design rather than separately, so the person who has to act on it receives it with the drawing or calculation it relates to.

We tell the client what their own duties are under CDM where they may not know them, which on smaller commercial and domestic projects is common.

A risk assessment is carried out before attending site, covering access, the condition of the structure, and any hazard the enquiry has already disclosed. Where a client or principal contractor operates their own induction, permit or method statement regime, we work to it.

Engineers attend with hard hat, safety boots, high-visibility clothing, gloves and eye protection as standard, and with whatever additional protection the specific site requires.

We do not walk fragile roofs. Where a roof cannot be accessed safely, it is surveyed by drone, which is why a significant part of our roof work is flown rather than walked.

Where an engineer attends a site alone, the visit is logged before departure with an expected finishing time, and a check-in is made on leaving site.

Flights are planned against airspace restrictions and site constraints, and are not flown over people who are not under our control.

Drone operations are covered by public liability insurance to twenty-five million pounds. Details of the flight authorisations and pilot qualifications held are available on request.

Work is carried out by engineers competent for the task, and designs are checked by a second Chartered Structural Engineer before issue.

Where a project requires a qualification or clearance we do not hold, we say so and either bring in someone who does or decline the work. This applies particularly on rail, where site access is controlled and specific certification is mandatory.

Any accident, incident or near miss is reported to the Director on the day it happens and recorded. Near misses are recorded as well as injuries, because the difference between the two is frequently luck.

Reportable incidents are notified to the Health and Safety Executive under RIDDOR.

Professional indemnity insurance is held to five million pounds. Drone public liability is held to twenty-five million pounds.

Certificates and details of other cover held are available on request, and are provided as a matter of course when an appointment or a pre-qualification requires them.

This policy is reviewed at least annually and whenever the way we work changes.