Rules, Regulations and Requirements for Construction Site Hoarding

Even though it might appear such, using hoardings around your site is generally not something you do just so that you can make sure that people don’t intrude in, you need to get it done in order to ensure that people who are going to be around your site are safe, of course by this we imply all kinds of people. There are a lot of regulations that are associated with construction sites, and these are laws that are to be followed strictly by builders. If you flout these regulations then there is a high chance that you have on your hands a legal problem since if you are considered to be negligent about your safety regulations, you might just have a lawsuit waiting for you in case of any mishap. Generally, construction site hoardings mean the use of protective covering that is built around a construction site, these are generally littered with site safety signs, or promotional material regarding the site. Let us take a look at a few of the rules regulations and requirements that are associated with construction site hoardings and what it means for your site.

As per the act of 1974, the Health and Safety at Work Act, states very clearly that you, as an employer or builder, need to make sure that you have taken measures that will take into consideration the kind of safety measures that you are providing for people who will end being around your site. Implying that you have to make sure that you create a fence and perimeter around your side with site safety signs, even though it might not state that in actual complete writing, the 2007 regulations make abundantly clear that this is what you’re supposed to do.

Let us take a look at the various components that go into making sure that your site is secure:

• The first component that we will look at is at the height of your barricades, generally, it is mandated that you construct a fence around your construction site that is at least 2.5 m in size. If your property is something that needs high security then this height will increase to 3 m. Even though explicit guidelines are not mentioned, we all understand that not each site is the same hence there are some that might actually quite much larger fencing, in case they are in the middle of the city. An additional advantage of making sure that your hoardings are the requisite height requirement is so that they cannot be scaled so easily by miscreants or thieves.
• Coming to the kind of materials that need to be used for your hoardings, you need to understand that your signage can be of two types, they can either be temporary ones so that you can use a more flexible, cheap material such as Foamex. On the other hand, if you are looking at installations that will have to be up for a long time given that the project is going to take a much longer time to complete then you need to look at something more reliable like a composite board. When we say composite board then it is something that has to be able to bear the weather conditions outside, hence materials like Dibond are a good way to go about it. Apart from this, you can look into adding extra security measures like barbed wire, etc. but always make sure that your construction site hoardings are strong enough to be able to take any sort of impact or load. You can always get your brand logo printed if you use a composite board, which will also get you extra advertising which is, of course, something that you as a company will not shy away from.
• The third point that we are going to talk about something known as regulation 13 (6) which is regarding the kind of access you provide your construction site. This implies that you have taken adequate measures so that people who are not supposed to have access do not gain access to your side. This means that instead of just having one hoarding or site safety signs you need to also have extra security in terms of security guard or gate. We all know that in the day it is so much easier to be able to take care of any sort of unauthorized access to your construction site, however special consideration needs to be taken when you talk about night time or when your construction site is empty. Apart from vandalism, it is also a concern just in case someone just wanders into your construction site and ends up injuring themselves, you as a company is liable for that hence you need to ensure that all measures are taken for safety.
• Just as we talked about the security of your site, let us also take a look at the safety which is included in Regulation 27 (2). A sturdy composite board for your barricading means that you are protecting it from all kinds of the weather outside will also include the strong winds that end up blowing from time to time. If you look at it from a safety point of view if your hoarding is not put up in a secure manner, it could be knocked out by strong winds, which means that serious damage can be caused and also legal implications. Let us now come to thinking about the kind of weight that you want to put on the hoarding we would say that using other security measures like CCTV etc. If they are heavier than the kind of material that you are using for your security barricading then you are just setting yourself up for an accident. Whatever the access points that you provide to your site are of course there will be a break there, so the security gates that you set up you need to ensure that they are generally of the same height as your hoarding and that they are strong enough to not be impacted by external forces. It also implies that as much as you need to make sure that they are not accessible from the outside by intruders, they also need to be strong enough so that they could be put in the lockdown in case there is any sort of emergency.
• Last but not least how you use your construction site hoardings for display in terms of advertisement is something that could really benefit the company by garnering interest in it. This using materials like Dibond or even some really pick signage material like a thick Foamex, something that can get you enough attention and also give you the security that you need.

Hence these are the kind of construction site holding regulations that you have to keep in mind. Since they are actually created to safeguard your construction site from all sorts of trouble, it is best that as a builder you make sure that you are paying attention to them by installing adequate site safety signs or even using the right kind of material that is strong enough to withstand any sort of outside elements.