Introduction to Fire Safety Management

8.4.12 Safety conditions of the contract
In order to make these conditions enforceable through 
the contract, any joint management arrangements and 
specifi c requirements for site controls should be detailed 
in the contract specifi cation, either as specifi c condi-
tions included in the contract or by referring to standard 
safety conditions in a separate document.
Failure to notify the contractor of such details, which 
may have a cost element, could result in confl ict during 
the contract works and, possibly, claims for additional 
payment at a later date.
The type of safety conditions or rules which could 
be imposed include:
➤
A requirement to comply with all legal obligations
➤
Restrictions or controls on the activities of the 
contractor
➤
Provision for access and egress – client and con-
tractor staff
➤
Specifi c site rules, e.g. management of fi re doors, 
smoking, etc.
➤
Working 
times/hours
➤
Site services and facilities to be provided by the cli-
ent or the contractor, in particular safety critical sys-
tems that must be maintained during the contract, 
e.g. fi re detection and alarm systems
➤
Security 
arrangements
Figure 8.28
Site rules poster

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Introduction to Fire Safety Management
162
➤
Restrictions on equipment:
➤
Type and use
➤
Loans
➤
Hire
➤
Requirements for maintenance of equipment
➤
Control of hazardous substances
➤
Housekeeping and site cleanliness/tidiness
➤
Storage requirements or restrictions
➤
Welfare 
arrangements
➤
Accident reporting and investigation procedures – 
the client should know as soon as possible of any 
unsafe event on their site
➤
Permit to work procedures to be followed
➤
Sanctions which may be imposed in the event of 
poor performance.
During the contract works the client should exercise suf-
fi cient monitoring of the contractor’s activities to ensure 
compliance with the conditions. Again, the extent of the 
monitoring will be dictated by the scope of the work and 
the degree of risk inherent in it. The monitoring arrange-
ments may, therefore, range between simple observa-
tion of the contractor’s activities at one end of the scale, 
to formal inspection and monitoring procedures at the 
other. The client would need to determine the extent of 
the monitoring activities they wish to employ at the plan-
ning stage and inform all internal personnel involved of 
the procedures.
Many of the potential problems during the project 
works can be avoided by establishing effective 
communication channels between all of the parties 
involved in the works. Once again, the type and extent 
of communications established would depend on the 
nature of the project, but the communication channels 
which may be needed would include accident/incident 
reporting procedures, to ensure the client is fully aware 
of all accidents and dangerous occurrences.