Site safety and first aid before mobilisation

Mobilisation is the busiest point of a project, with plant arriving, crews being hired and the employer watching progress. It is also when safety gaps are easiest to miss and cheapest to fix. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, 2007, the duty to provide a safe workplace sits with the occupier and the employer from the start.

Work through this checklist before the first crew arrives. Your site-specific safety plan builds on it.

Registration and paperwork

• Register the workplace with the Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health Services (DOSHS), or confirm the registration that covers this site, and display the certificate.
• Register the project with the National Construction Authority, and check that your own NCA registration covers the category and value of the works.
• Confirm that site supervisors and skilled workers hold the NCA accreditation they need.
• Keep copies of the approvals for the works, such as county development permission and any environmental licence, on site.
• Update your written safety and health policy and share it with everyone on site.

Risk assessment and method statements

The Act requires the occupier to assess risks and act on them. On a construction site that means a written assessment for the site as a whole and a method statement for each high-risk activity on the programme. Examples include excavation and trenching, work at height and scaffolding, lifting operations, demolition, hot works, electrical work, confined spaces and work near traffic or live services.

Each method statement should name the competent person in charge, the sequence of work, the controls and the equipment needed. Use a permit-to-work system for the most dangerous tasks. Review assessments when the design, sequence or ground conditions change.

Where twenty or more people are employed at a workplace, the Act requires a safety and health committee, and DOSHS can require one at a smaller site. Plan its membership and first meeting as part of mobilisation.

First aid and PPE

The Occupational Safety and Health (First Aid in the Workplace) Regulations, 2024 apply to all workplaces, construction sites included. Before mobilisation:

• Assess first-aid needs against the size of the crew, the hazards and the distance to the nearest hospital.
• Appoint enough trained first-aiders, with valid certificates from an approved training provider, so that every shift is covered.
• Stock first-aid boxes to the standard the regulations set, mark them clearly and place them where crews work.
• Display first-aiders' names and phone numbers, and the route to the nearest hospital.
• Issue PPE suited to each task: helmets, safety boots, high-visibility vests, gloves, eye and hearing protection, and harnesses for work at height. The duty to provide and maintain it sits with the employer.
• Keep a PPE issue register and a stock of replacements.

Induction, toolbox talks and subcontractors

No one should start work before a site induction covering the layout, main hazards, PPE rules, first aid, emergency arrangements and incident reporting. Deliver it in a language the crew understands and record who attended. Follow it with short toolbox talks at the start of each shift or new activity, signed by those present. They are how method statements reach the people doing the work.

Subcontractors work under your site rules. Before they mobilise, ask for:

• their NCA registration and the accreditation of their supervisors;
• evidence of work-injury cover for their own employees;
• method statements for their activities, reviewed by your safety lead;
• a named competent supervisor on site;
• confirmation that their crews will attend your induction and wear the required PPE.

Work-injury cover and incident reporting

The Work Injury Benefits Act, 2007 makes employers liable to compensate employees who are injured at work or contract an occupational disease, and requires them to insure that liability with an approved insurer. Check before the first worker arrives that cover is in place, reflects the expected headcount and payroll, and includes casual workers. Cover is placed through licensed insurers and brokers.

Set up incident reporting before you need it. Keep an accident register on site, agree who notifies the authorities and the employer's representative, and investigate every incident and near miss. The Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Work Injury Benefits Act both require accidents to be reported within set periods, so the person responsible must know the procedure from day one.

Emergency plans

Write the emergency plan before mobilisation and walk through it with the site team. It should cover:

• fire prevention, extinguishers and the alarm;
• evacuation routes, a marked assembly point and a head count;
• rescue from height, excavations and confined spaces;
• how a casualty reaches hospital, with a vehicle and driver identified;
• emergency contacts for the hospital, fire service, police and the employer's representative;
• heavy rain and flooding, which can affect excavations and access roads.

Run a drill early in the project and repeat it as the site changes.

How we help

Epiidosis Africa's HR, recruitment and workplace safety practice prepares contractors for mobilisation. We review your registrations, draft or check risk assessments and method statements, set up induction and toolbox talk records, and run first aid and safety training on site. Our insurance and risk practice checks your work-injury and contract cover against what the contract requires, and our finance practice can add the safety file to a lender's pack.

Our training supports, and does not replace, your duties as an employer and occupier. This is general information, not legal advice, and cover is placed through licensed insurers and brokers.