The Construction Risk Library is designed to assist with the identification and treatment of construction health and safety risks. It has been created as a useful aid for designers to help them meet their obligations under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, commonly known as CDM.
The Library currently consists of a suite of 80 specific risk scenario’s together with around 2,000 individual treatment prompts for them. They are contained in a standalone CSV File of Data which is supported by a User Guide. Both have been mapped against relevant parts of the BS EN ISO 19650-6:2025 data schema to future proof the content and provide interoperability. They can be downloaded by completing the form below.
Designers can identify a risk scenario using a set of pre-defined categories. These scenarios lead to appropriate treatment prompts in the Library. The Library focuses on many common types of harmful events which cause injury and ill health in GB Construction activities. These risk scenarios and the associated treatment prompts aim to provide representative examples from which designers can draw learning and understand how to apply the Library concepts to their own risk scenario and design treatment challenges. The benefits of using the approach taken by the Library include:
- Providing a “dynamic risk register” where each risk is recorded and visualised in a structured way.
- Enabling the organisational sharing of risk identification and treatment information across different projects through standardisation; bringing longer-term time and cost benefits.
- Providing learning/ training opportunities for designers.
The Construction Risk Library and the data contained within this release is all covered by an Open Government Licence.
Innovation
As an extension of this work, a new, innovative trial was developed to pioneer the use of sensors, which can be physically attached to people and plant and digitally linked to a Building Information Modelling (BIM) model in order to create safety zones.
The trial took place on a live construction project at AstraZeneca’s Macclesfield Campus with the aim of engaging project clients, designers, contractors and site-based staff to adopt new ways of harnessing digital technology to improve health and safety outcomes. The results show how effective these preventive measures were to industry. Read the full report here.
We’re proud that this work won an award at the Digital Construction Awards in London on 2 July 2024.
Get Involved
If you’d like to be part of this drive for more proactive safety, contact discoveringsafety@hse.gov.uk.
Join the community of practice by registering to the members area above. You will have access to the report library and be able to join in the conversation about the live pilots.
Collaborate with us to gain unique insights, build new relationships, take the opportunity to contribute ideas and shape the industry, join a like-minded community, hear about new data analytic techniques and learn how they can positively impact your business, and use data to improve health and safety.
Data-sharing: we aim to develop a rich and diverse data pool with varied sources. Secure platforms are being developed in the early stages of the programme to enable safe, secure and anonymised data-sharing. You can contribute your data to the programme.
Industry endorsement: we want to solve real problems, which is why industry involvement and endorsement is key. The first phase of the programme involved extensive industry consultation to shape the projects. It is critical that industry remains involved and continues to influence and shape our work.
New ideas: innovation is essential to Discovering Safety and we welcome new ideas for projects, topics or tools.
More Information
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