A Principal Contractor should be able to show how the project is planned, how contractors and risks are controlled, what information workers received and whether required inspections, examinations and actions are current. The exact record set depends on the project, workforce, plant, substances, temporary works and high-risk activities.
The legal duty is not satisfied by owning a large generic file. Documents should reflect the current construction phase, be available to the people who need them and connect with what supervisors and workers actually do.
Every construction project needs a Construction Phase Plan. A lifting plan is only relevant where lifting operations are carried out; an excavation inspection report is only relevant where an excavation requires inspection. The project register should show which controls apply and why.
Core project documents a Principal Contractor should control
| Document or record | Purpose | Key control point |
|---|---|---|
| Written duty-holder appointment | Confirms who the client appointed as Principal Contractor on a project with more than one contractor. | Check the legal entity, scope, project and appointment timing. |
| Pre-construction information and current design information | Provides the site, project, existing-asset and design-risk information needed to plan construction. | Record gaps and obtain updates when the design or site information changes. |
| Construction Phase Plan | Sets out the project-wide health and safety arrangements, site rules and measures for relevant significant risks. | Prepare it before setting up the site, then review and revise it throughout the project. |
| Site rules and emergency arrangements | Defines the common controls for access, traffic, permits, fire, emergencies, welfare and other site-wide matters. | Keep the arrangements proportionate, communicated and consistent with the live site. |
| Induction and briefing records | Evidence that workers received site-specific information and relevant task instructions. | A signature alone is not enough; content must be suitable and understood. |
| Contractor and competence evidence | Supports checks that appointed organisations and people have the necessary capability, skills, knowledge, training and experience. | Check evidence against the work allocated, not as a generic card-collection exercise. |
Task and contractor documents
Employers must assess risks to employees and others affected by their work. HSE states that the significant findings must be recorded where an employer has five or more employees. Certain hazards—including work at height, hazardous substances, manual handling, noise, vibration and lead—also have specific assessment requirements.
Project-specific RAMS and method statements can explain the task, sequence, plant, people, interfaces, controls, supervision and emergency arrangements. HSE does not say that a method statement is legally required for every construction activity. It does say that arrangements for demolition, dismantling or structural alteration must be recorded in writing before work starts, and recognises method statements as a practical way to plan and communicate other higher-risk or complex activities.
The Principal Contractor's review should check alignment with the Construction Phase Plan, design information, logistics, temporary works, permits and other contractors. Acceptance does not transfer the contractor's responsibility for the work it controls.
Documents required when the work or equipment triggers them
A live project register can help identify which specialist controls and records apply. Depending on the scope, these may include:
- COSHH assessments, current safety data and exposure-control information for products and process-generated dusts, fumes, mists or vapours;
- temporary-works briefs, designs, design checks, permits to load or strike and a controlled temporary-works register;
- lifting plans, equipment information and current thorough-examination reports for lifting equipment and accessories;
- scaffold, excavation, work-platform, fall-protection or other inspection reports required by the applicable work and equipment rules;
- permits and isolation records for defined high-risk activities, where the management arrangements require them;
- traffic-management, delivery, rescue or environmental controls needed for the project;
- health-surveillance, face-fit, exposure-monitoring or equipment-maintenance records where the assessment identifies a need; and
- incident, near-miss, investigation and statutory reporting records where an event occurs.
HSE specifically states that lifting-equipment examination records must be secure, reproducible in writing and readily available to enforcing authorities. It also requires reports for specified inspections of equipment and places such as scaffolds and excavations. A general monthly site inspection does not replace those statutory checks.
What must be displayed, and what must be accessible?
If the project is notifiable, CDM Regulation 6 requires the notice to be clearly displayed in the construction site office in a comprehensible form where workers can read it, and updated where necessary. Not every project is notifiable, so an F10 should not be treated as a universal requirement.
Other records do not all have to be pinned to a wall. They should be controlled and readily accessible to the people who need them: managers planning the work, supervisors briefing it, workers following it, specialists carrying out checks and enforcing authorities where legislation requires availability. A suitable electronic system can support this, provided current documents can be found and used on site.
Site rules, emergency information, traffic routes, restricted areas and permit arrangements must also be communicated in a form the workforce can understand. Consider literacy, language, shift patterns and changes to the work rather than relying only on a noticeboard.
What is the Principal Contractor's role in the Health and Safety File?
On a project involving more than one contractor, the Principal Designer normally prepares and maintains the Health and Safety File. The Principal Contractor must provide the Principal Designer with relevant information in its possession for inclusion in the file.
If the Principal Designer's appointment ends before the project, the file passes to the Principal Contractor, who must then review, update and revise it before passing it to the client at the end. The file is a structured handover for future construction work—not a storage place for routine site paperwork that has no future relevance.
Read the separate guide to CDM Health and Safety File contents and handover.
How should the document set be reviewed?
Use document control that identifies the owner, revision, review date and approval or acceptance status where relevant. Review the set when the programme, design, work phase, contractor structure, plant, materials, site conditions, emergency arrangements or interfaces change.
Site inspections and audits should test both the records and the physical work. Close-out evidence should show what was corrected, by whom and when. Repeated overdue actions, conflicting revisions or controls that workers cannot explain are signs that the system is not functioning.
A current signature does not prove that a control is suitable. The strongest evidence is agreement between the plan, the task documents, the inspection findings and what is happening on site.
Principal Contractor mobilisation checklist
- Confirm the written duty-holder appointments and contractor structure.
- Review the pre-construction information, design information and known site constraints.
- Prepare and authorise a project-specific Construction Phase Plan before site setup.
- Define site rules, welfare, emergencies, logistics, consultation and monitoring arrangements.
- Check contractor capability and the competence required for each work package.
- Obtain and review task assessments, methods and specialist plans before the relevant work starts.
- Create registers for statutory inspections, examinations, permits and temporary works that actually apply.
- Deliver site-specific inductions and controlled task briefings.
- Display and update the F10 only where the project is notifiable.
- Set review triggers, action owners and the route for Health and Safety File information.