3.1 Site Initial Planning, Hoarding, Access and Vehicle & Plant Movement

Why planning comes first

Part 4(A), Site Initial Planning, gets four hours in the NIOSH timetable, and Part 4(D), Vehicle and Plant Movement, gets three. Paper 2B lists "traffic management activities" as one of the ten presentation topics. Most site layout decisions are hard to change once hoarding is up and cranes are erected, so the safest layouts are fixed before mobilisation.

CDM 2024 makes this a legal sequence:

1. The client provides pre-construction information (regulation 5).
2. The principal contractor drafts the construction phase plan, including site rules, before the site is set up (regulation 13).
3. The principal contractor makes sure unauthorised access is prevented (regulation 15(2)(e)).
4. Each contractor must not start work until reasonable steps against unauthorised access have been taken (regulation 17(1)(g)).

The pre-mobilisation survey

Before the layout is drawn, the project team gathers:

• Ground and site information: site investigation results, slopes, flood history, fill and contamination, water table
• Services: underground cables, gas, water, sewers and telecoms; overhead lines and their voltages. Obtain the utility owners' records, then verify on site.
• Neighbours and public: schools, clinics, shophouses, footpaths, bus stops and traffic volumes on access roads
• Access constraints: road widths, turning radii for long vehicles, height limits, local authority conditions on working hours and road use
• Existing structures: foundations within the zone affected by excavation or piling, and whether they need monitoring or underpinning

Functional layout

A good layout separates activities so that high-risk operations do not cross routine movement:

Hoarding and public protection

DOSH's Guidelines for Public Safety and Health at Construction Sites (first revision 2007) say:

• The worksite should be fully barricaded by protective hoarding, both to protect the public and to stop trespass (paragraph 11.1).
• Hoarding should be at least 1,800 mm high, continuous down to the ground, designed and built to the local authority's specification and kept in good condition (paragraph 11.2).
• An adequate safety distance should separate the work from the hoarding. Where falling materials could reach pedestrians or traffic, a gantry (covered walkway) is required (paragraphs 11.3 and 11.4).
• Entrances and exits should be sited to avoid danger and inconvenience to the public, and kept secure (paragraph 11.6).
• Warning signs should be posted at conspicuous positions; no bills other than warning signs; no parking or hawking along the hoarding during high-risk work (paragraphs 11.7 to 11.9).
• Materials should be stored and handled inside the hoarded area, and machinery sited so that its collapse would not affect the public (paragraphs 11.10 and 11.11).

CDM 2024 regulation 20(2) adds that, where the risk requires it, the site perimeter must be identified by suitable signs and fenced. Many local authorities set their own hoarding heights and designs, so always check the approval conditions.

Gates and wheel washing

• Gates should be of suitable design and adequate strength. Good practice is to make them open inwards or slide, so they never swing across a public footpath or road.
• Wheel-washing facilities and silt traps stop mud being carried onto public roads and silt entering drains. They are normally conditions of local authority or environmental approval, so follow the project's approved erosion and sediment control plan.

Safe access and good order: CDM regulations 19 and 20

• Provide safe and adequate access and egress to every workplace on the site (regulation 19(1)).
• Keep the site safe and without risk to health (regulation 19(2)).
• Guard every floor opening that could let a person fall (regulation 19(3)).
• Stop people using any access route that does not comply (regulation 19(4)).
• Allow adequate working space, taking into account the plant needed (regulation 19(5)).
• Keep the site in good order and work areas reasonably clean, and do not leave projecting nails or similar sharp objects (regulation 20).

Traffic routes: CDM regulation 29

The construction site must be organised so that people and vehicles can move without risk (regulation 29(1)). Each traffic route must be:

• suitable for the people or vehicles using it
• sufficient in number and size
• in a suitable position (regulation 29(2))

Where a route cannot fully meet that standard, regulation 29(3) requires:

• pedestrian doors and gates leading onto a traffic route to be separated enough for pedestrians to see approaching vehicles from a safe place
• adequate separation between vehicles and pedestrians, or, if that is not practicable, other protection for pedestrians and effective warnings to anyone who could be crushed or trapped
• at least one pedestrian exit from every loading bay
• a clearly marked, unobstructed pedestrian door next to vehicle gates where using the vehicle gate is unsafe for pedestrians

Routes must be signed where necessary, inspected regularly and maintained, and kept free of obstruction with enough space (regulation 29(4)).

Building a traffic management plan

Vehicles and mobile plant: CDM regulation 30

• Take measures to prevent or control unintended movement of any vehicle, for example parking brakes, chocks and level parking (regulation 30(1)).
• The driver, operator or an assistant must give adequate warning to anyone at risk from the vehicle's movement (regulation 30(2)).
• Vehicles must be driven, operated, towed and loaded safely (regulation 30(3)).
• No riding on construction vehicles except in places provided for the purpose. Nobody may remain on a vehicle while loose material is loaded unless a safe place is provided (regulation 30(4)).
• Prevent vehicles falling into excavations, pits or water, or running over the edge of embankments or earthworks, for example with stop blocks and edge bunds (regulation 30(5)).

DOSH's public safety guideline adds that vehicles should be roadworthy and drivers must hold a licence for the class of vehicle (paragraphs 12.1 and 12.2).

Plant near excavations and overhead lines

• Keep plant and spoil out of the zone of influence of an excavation unless the support design allows for the extra load (CDM regulation 24(1)(e)). Chapter 6 gives the distances DOSH guidance uses.
• Overhead power lines (CDM regulation 27(2) and (3)): where a line poses a risk, the contractor must route it away from the risk area, or isolate and earth it. If neither is practicable, it must provide suitable warning notices together with barriers to exclude unnecessary plant, suspended protection where vehicles must pass beneath, or measures giving an equivalent level of safety.
• DOSH's 2015 Tapak Selamat excavation bulletin recommends highly visible barriers at least 6 metres horizontally from overhead lines, and clearly defined crossing points with red-and-white goalposts and signs.
• The line owner, usually TNB, sets the safe working distance and any outage or shrouding arrangements for its line. Obtain this in writing before cranes, piling rigs or tipper trucks work nearby.

Scenario: one gate, two-way traffic

A town-centre site has a single 6-metre gate used by concrete trucks, tippers and workers on foot. Workers walk in alongside reversing tippers.

The SSS's recommendations:

1. Create a separate pedestrian gate with a barrier-protected walkway to the induction room (regulation 29(3)).
2. Mark a turning loop so tippers drive forward through the site, with a trained banksman at the one unavoidable reversing point.
3. Schedule concrete deliveries so trucks do not queue on the public road.
4. Install a mirror at the blind corner and add the speed limit to the site rules.
5. Record the changes in the construction phase plan and brief them at induction and toolbox meetings.