One in five contractors: closing the safety policy–site practice gap for project teams
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
One in five construction contractors report that written health and safety policies are not consistently applied on site, exposing a gap between documented procedures and day-to-day behaviours. The new survey points to issues such as method statements and risk assessments not being followed in practice, and toolbox talks failing to translate into consistent controls around plant, work at height and temporary works. For civil and infrastructure teams, this signals a need to tighten supervision, close-out of near-miss reports and site audits to verify that CDM-compliant systems are actually implemented.
Technical Brief
- Gap between paperwork and practice directly undermines “so far as is reasonably practicable” legal tests after incidents.
- Inconsistent implementation weakens the evidential value of RAMS and permits in HSE or ORR investigations.
- For geotechnical and temporary works, divergence from written designs increases risk of unverified load paths and instability.
- Discrepancies particularly affect high-risk operations: lifting, excavation support changes, plant–people interface and work at height.
- Supervisory resource and competence become critical constraints; foremen effectively act as the last safety barrier.
- Digital sign-off and photographic evidence of controls in place offer a practical audit trail to close the gap.
Our Take
New Civil Engineer’s role in convening industry initiatives – from Heathrow Airport’s early careers innovation competition to the Bridges Conference challenges – suggests it is well placed to turn findings on safety-policy gaps into practical guidance or award criteria that reward demonstrable on-site behaviours, not just paperwork.
The earlier New Civil Engineer webinar on BIM, CDEs and the ‘data handover gap’ points to a parallel issue: if safety procedures are embedded in digital models but not enforced on site, contractors risk a growing divergence between as-designed safety intent and as-built working methods, especially at project close-out.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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