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Insight · Health and safety

The temporary works register,
and who signs the permit to load.

Propping, formwork, edge protection and the excavation support nobody designed. What the register holds, what a check category means, and why the permit to load is the entry that matters.

Published ·Updated ·7 min read·Written by

Reinforcement being fixed in a deep excavation

Temporary works are the structures that hold the job up until the permanent ones can. They are designed to be removed, which is why they are the part of a project most likely to be built by whoever is nearest, with the least paperwork behind it. When they fail, people die, and the inquiry almost never finds a design fault. It finds that nobody had signed to say the structure could be loaded.

What counts as temporary works

More than most people list. Formwork and falsework are the obvious ones. So are propping, needling, façade retention, edge protection, scaffolding, crane bases and hardstandings, hoardings that carry wind load, excavation support of any kind, and the temporary condition a permanent structure passes through during construction.

Scaffolding is the item on that list most firms meet every week, and it carries a regime of its own: a handover certificate before anyone else sets foot on it, then an inspection at least every seven days while it stands. That side of it is set out in the note for scaffolding contractors.

That last category is the one that catches firms out. A frame that is stable when finished may be unstable at the moment the last prop comes out, and the sequence that gets it from one state to the other is temporary works even though no temporary structure was built.

What the register is, and what it holds

The register is a single list of every temporary works item on a project, maintained by the temporary works coordinator, and it exists so that the question "is anything on this site holding something up that nobody has checked" has an answer that is not a guess.

A workable register carries, for every item:

  • What it is and where, specifically enough to find it. Grid references beat descriptions.
  • Who designed it, and whether that design is bespoke, a standard solution or a proprietary system used within its published limits.
  • The design check category, and who carried the check out.
  • The loading assumptions, because most failures are a structure used for something it was not designed for.
  • The permit to load, with the date and the name of whoever issued it.
  • The permit to dismantle, which is the same discipline in reverse and is forgotten far more often.
  • Inspection records for the period it stands.

A register that lists items but records no permits is an inventory. It tells you what exists, not whether any of it was allowed to be used.

Check categories, in plain terms

Design checking is graded by how much can go wrong. The principle, set out in the procedural control that BS 5975 describes, is that the independence of the checker rises with the consequence of failure.

BS 5975 sets four categories. Category 0 covers standard solutions only: another member of the site or design team checks that the site conditions sit within the solution's limits. Category 1 is for simple designs, such as formwork or propping an opening in single storey work, checked by another member of the design team. Category 2 is for more complex designs, such as excavation support, foundations and steel connections, checked by someone not involved in the design. Category 3, for complex or innovative designs, is checked by another organisation.

The practical point for a contractor is not memorising the categories. It is that each item's category is set by somebody with the standing to set it, in consultation with the designer, and recorded before the check is done. Deciding afterwards that a check was proportionate is not a check.

The coordinator, and why the appointment is in writing

The temporary works coordinator is a role, not a job title, and on a small project it is often held by the site manager. What matters is that somebody holds it, knows they hold it, and has the authority the role needs, which includes the authority to refuse to issue a permit to load.

That last point is where the appointment being written down stops being an administrative nicety. A coordinator who reports to the person whose programme is delayed by a refusal needs the appointment to be explicit, because the pressure arrives on a Friday afternoon and it is real.

Where CDM 2015 fits

CDM does not use the phrase temporary works coordinator, and no regulation obliges you to keep a register in the form described here. What CDM requires is that the construction phase is planned, managed and monitored, that designers eliminate foreseeable risks so far as is reasonably practicable, and that the principal contractor plans the work.

The register is how a contractor demonstrates it did that for the part of the job most likely to collapse. It is evidence rather than a legal instrument, which is exactly why it needs to have been kept contemporaneously. Reconstructed afterwards it proves nothing. Becoming principal contractor covers what else arrives with the appointment.

How it goes wrong

  1. The register lives in one person's spreadsheet. It is complete, accurate and on a laptop that is at another site on the day somebody needs to know whether a prop can come out.
  2. Permits are verbal. The coordinator said yes on the phone. Everyone remembers it. Nothing records it.
  3. The design is a supplier's drawing nobody checked. A proprietary system used outside its published loading is a bespoke design, and it needs a bespoke design check.
  4. Nothing records the dismantle. Loading permits are taken seriously because a collapse under load is imaginable. Striking is treated as tidying up, and is where a surprising share of incidents happen.
  5. The sequence changed and the register did not. The design assumed a load path that the actual build sequence no longer produces, and the item on the register still says checked.

What good control looks like

One list, in one place, that the coordinator can update from site and anybody with an interest can read without asking. Items added when they are conceived rather than when they are built. Permits recorded as records rather than as signatures on paper that goes into a folder. And a standing answer to the only question that matters at any moment: what is currently loaded that has not been permitted.

Where this touches the platform

Design and checking stay with the designer and the checker. Unibuild holds the register and the evidence around it: the item against the project, the design and check documents stored with who uploaded them and when, and the permits raised on the phone on site and stamped with the time they were created, so a permit written up after the event shows that it was. The office can add, rename and reorder the questions on a permit without a code change, and every permit stores the questions and answers as they stood on the day, so a historic permit keeps the wording that was actually asked rather than today's. Inspection intervals for standing items sit on the same reminder mechanism as certificate and insurance expiry.

Health and safety Documents and certificates The field app Reminders and compliance

Where to start, on Monday

Walk one live site and count the temporary works items. Then open the register and count the entries. If the two numbers differ, the gap is not a paperwork problem, it is a list of things holding up your building that nobody has checked.

Then look for the permits to dismantle. Most registers have loading permits and very few have striking permits, and the second half of that discipline is the half that is missing almost everywhere.

Sources

Checked against the source rather than against commentary. Where a schedule, a rate or a threshold is definitive on a government site, read it there.

Asked most often

The follow-up questions.

The duties that arrive with the principal contractor role are set out in when you become principal contractor.

What is a temporary works register?
A single list of every temporary works item on a project, maintained by the temporary works coordinator. For each item it records what it is and where, who designed it, the design check category and who checked it, the loading assumptions, the permit to load, the permit to dismantle, and inspection records for the period it stands. Its purpose is to answer, at any moment, whether anything on site is holding something up that nobody has checked.
What is the purpose of a temporary works register?
To make sure every temporary works item on the job has a named owner, a design status and a check before it is loaded. The register is the control document. It lists each item, who designed it, who checked the design, its category, and whether the permit to load has been issued. Its purpose is to stop something being built and used on the assumption that somebody else had looked at it.
Does CDM 2015 require a temporary works register?
Not in those words. CDM requires that the construction phase is planned, managed and monitored and that the principal contractor plans the work. The register is how a contractor demonstrates it did that for the part of the job most likely to collapse. It is evidence rather than a legal instrument, which is precisely why it has to be kept as the work happens: reconstructed afterwards it proves nothing.
Does every job need a temporary works register?
Every job with temporary works does, and most jobs have more of them than the site thinks. Propping, falsework, formwork, excavation support, scaffolding, temporary bracing, hoardings, crane bases, edge protection and temporary hard standing all qualify. The register can be short. What it cannot be is absent because the works were judged too simple, which is the judgement that gets tested after something moves.
Who owns the temporary works register?
The temporary works coordinator appointed for the project, working to the arrangements the contractor has set out. On a larger job there may be a supervisor under the coordinator for day to day checks. The register belongs to the project rather than to a person, so it has to survive that individual leaving. A register that lives on one laptop and goes with them is a common and avoidable failure.
What goes in each register entry?
A reference and description of the item, its location and its design category. Who prepared the design and who checked it, with the check status and date. The permit to load, the permit to dismantle, and the date it was removed. Each entry should point to the design and the check certificate rather than restate them. The value is in being able to answer, in one line, whether that item is safe to load today.
What does a temporary works coordinator do?
They own the register, make sure each item is designed and checked to an appropriate category, and issue the permits to load and to dismantle. It is a role rather than a job title and is often held by the site manager on smaller projects. The appointment should be in writing, because the role includes the authority to refuse a permit and that refusal arrives under programme pressure.
What is a permit to load?
The written confirmation, issued by the temporary works coordinator, that a temporary works item has been built as designed and may now carry load. It is the entry that matters most on the register, because a collapse inquiry rarely finds a design fault and frequently finds that nobody had signed to say the structure could be used. Its counterpart, the permit to dismantle, is forgotten far more often.
Who can check a temporary works design?
It depends on the design check category in BS 5975, and the checker's independence rises with the consequence of failure. Category 0, a standard solution, is checked by another member of the site or design team. Category 1 is checked by another member of the design team. Category 2 is checked by someone not involved in the design, and category 3 by a separate organisation. The category is set and recorded before the check, because deciding afterwards that a check was proportionate is not a check.
Is scaffolding temporary works?
Yes, along with formwork, falsework, propping, needling, façade retention, edge protection, crane bases, hardstandings, hoardings carrying wind load and excavation support. So is the temporary condition a permanent structure passes through during construction, which is the category most often missed: a frame can be stable when finished and unstable at the moment the last prop comes out.
What is the difference between a temporary works register and a design brief?
The register tracks every item and its status across the project. The design brief covers one item, and sets out the loads, constraints, ground conditions and assumptions the designer has to work to. One is a control list, the other is an input to a design. Firms that keep a register and skip the briefs end up with designs built on assumptions nobody wrote down, which is the part that fails.
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