Hazards and control measures
Hazards to members of the public and how to protect them
The hazards construction and maintenance work creates for the public and building occupants: falling materials, open excavations, plant and deliveries, dust and noise, and children getting onto sites. Who gets hurt, and the control measures the law and HSE expect.
What hazards does construction work create for members of the public?
HSE says the public is most often seriously hurt by materials or tools falling outside the site boundary, by falling into trenches and other openings, and by being struck by plant and vehicles. Dust, noise, deliveries across pavements and children getting onto sites to play add to the risk wherever work is in or next to homes, schools, hospitals, shops and streets. The law expects you to keep people who do not work for you out of harm's way, so far as is reasonably practicable, with a secure boundary, controls on what can fall or move across it, and a site that is safe when the crew goes home.
Last updated . Facts checked by the SiteSurvey team on 24 October 2026 against HSE: Protecting the public, HSE: Work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain, Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 3 and Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, regulation 18.
Where the public meets the work
Much construction and maintenance work happens where people live, learn, shop and are cared for: an extension in a family's back garden, a roof repair over a school corridor, plant room work under a hospital clinic, a shop refit with the store still trading, a drainage dig in a busy street. The people around the work did not choose to be there and usually do not know what the hazards are.
HSE names the hazards. Objects fall from scaffolds and roofs beyond the boundary. People fall into excavations, manholes, stairwells and open floor edges. Delivery and site vehicles strike pedestrians as they enter or leave, and a lorry blocking the pavement pushes people out into the road. Stored materials topple, and dust, noise and vibration reach neighbours and occupants. Excavations are covered in more depth on the excavation hazards page.
Who is harmed, and how
HSE's statistics record 104 members of the public killed in work-related accidents in Great Britain in 2025/26. That figure covers every kind of work activity, not just construction, is provisional, and leaves out patients and service users who died in health and adult social care in England.
HSE singles out the elderly, children and some disabled people as needing extra attention, and says work in places such as schools and hospitals needs careful planning. Children are a particular concern. HSE says some are drawn to construction sites as exciting places to play, and that while child deaths and injuries on sites have fallen, they still happen. A site that is safe while the crew is there can be lethal after they leave, with an open trench, a ladder left on a scaffold or plant with the keys in it.
What the law expects
Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires every employer to run their work so that people not in their employment are not exposed to risks to their health or safety, so far as is reasonably practicable. CDM 2015 adds that where needed, a construction site has its perimeter signed or fenced off, and HSE expects the principal contractor to take reasonable steps to keep unauthorised people out.
In order of the hierarchy, first remove the overlap: do the work when the building or area is empty or closed. Then separate: a defined boundary, which in populated areas typically means a two metre high small mesh fence or hoarding, with materials stored inside it. Then stop things crossing it: toe-boards, brick guards and netting, with fans or covered walkways where people pass below, and barriers or covers over every opening. Control deliveries so pedestrians are not forced into the road, brief and supervise visitors, and tell occupants what is happening and when. At the end of each day, secure the site, lock plant away, remove ladders and lock up hazardous substances. In SiteSurvey, the RAMS template asks whether the building or area will be in use and how occupants and the public are kept away, and the Suggested controls list starts with timing the work for when the area is empty.
Suggested controls
Members of the public and building occupants: control measures, most effective first
These are the 6 controls the SiteSurvey RAMS and risk assessment forms offer for this hazard as a tick list, grouped by their level in the hierarchy of controls. They are a starting point from HSE guidance, not an assessment of your job: tick what applies and say how it works on your site. If only personal protective equipment is ticked, the form says so. How suggested controls work and the hierarchy of controls explained.
Take the hazard away altogether, usually by doing the job a different way or from a different place.
- Work timed for when the area is empty or closed
Keep people away from the hazard with a physical measure: a guardrail, a barrier, extraction, isolation.
- Work area fenced or barriered and signed
Change the way the work is done: a permit, a check, training, supervision, timing.
- Occupants and neighbours told what is happening and when
- Routes past the work kept open, lit and free of materials
- No tools, materials or plant left unattended where people can reach them
- Noisy or dusty work timed to suit the building
Offered to: every type of work in the RAMS form.
Try it
Build the controls for members of the public and building occupants
Tick the controls you would put in place, see which levels of the hierarchy they reach, and score the risk before and after. Or fill in the example from a completed RAMS to see how one crew did it.
Interactive
Try it: members of the public and building occupants
Works the same way as the RAMS form. Nothing you tick is saved or sent anywhere.
Your controls, by level
- Eliminatenot ticked
- Substituteno control at this level for this hazard
- Engineeringnot ticked
- Adminnot ticked
- PPEno control at this level for this hazard
Nothing ticked yet.
3. Score the risk with these controls
What the law says
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 3
- Every employer conducts their undertaking so that people not in their employment are not exposed to risks to their health or safety, so far as is reasonably practicable.
- Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, regulation 18
- The site is kept in good order and, where health and safety requires it, its perimeter is identified by suitable signs or fenced off.
- Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015
- The principal contractor plans and manages the construction phase, including reasonable steps to stop unauthorised people getting onto the site.
Worked example
Members of the public and building occupants in a completed RAMS
The hazard entry exactly as it was recorded in one of our completed example RAMS: the controls ticked from the list, how they apply on that job, and the score before and after the further action.
Construction and building work
22 Wonford Mead, Exeter: extension foundations and drainage
- Hazard
- Members of the public and building occupants: The house and rear garden, the side drive, and the pavement at the drive entrance
- What could happen, and to whom
- The family, especially the two children and the dog, getting into the garden and falling into a trench or being struck by plant. Neighbours and passers-by at the drive entrance while lorries reverse in. The family, the neighbours and the public.
- Controls ticked
- Work area fenced or barriered and signed
- Occupants and neighbours told what is happening and when
- Routes past the work kept open, lit and free of materials
- No tools, materials or plant left unattended where people can reach them
- Noisy or dusty work timed to suit the building
- How they apply on this job
- Heras fence line with signs between the kitchen door and the work area, clipped shut and checked at the start of each day and at every break. Trenches fenced, and covered with road plates or fenced off when the crew leaves for the night. The side gate is locked when the crew is not on site and no tools, fuel or plant keys are left where they can be reached. The family is told each morning what is happening and when the breaker and lorries are due. The pavement is kept clear of mud and materials, and A. Dunne stops pedestrians at the kerb while a lorry reverses onto the drive. Breaking and cutting are kept to Tuesday daytime.
- Risk with these controls (likelihood x severity)
- 3 x 4 = 12 (Medium)
- Further action
- Fence line and trench covers walked by K. Trevithick before leaving each day and photographed. Owner: K. Trevithick.
- Residual risk
- 1 x 4 = 4 (Low)
A fictional job, filled in as a worked example. The form and the report are real.
It also appears in felt roof renewal on a school sports hall, distribution board replacement in an occupied office, led display and speakers in a school hall, clearing and deep cleaning a void flat, dismantling a storm-damaged ash near an 11 kv line, welding heating pipework in a hospital plant room and independent scaffold on a seafront hotel. All eleven completed RAMS.
Members of the public and building occupants: common questions
What fence do we need around a site in a residential street?
HSE says that in populated areas the boundary will typically be a two metre high small mesh fence or hoarding around the site. The boundary should be planned before work starts, put up, and kept in good repair, with gates closed and checked at the end of each day. Materials and plant are stored inside the boundary, ideally in a secure compound away from the fence line so they cannot be used to climb it.
How do we stop children getting onto a site after hours?
HSE lists the steps. Secure the site at the end of every working day, barrier or cover excavations and pits, isolate, immobilise and lock away vehicles and plant, store materials so they cannot topple or roll, remove access ladders from excavations and scaffolds, and lock away hazardous substances. Walk the boundary before leaving and record that it was done. In the worked example, the trenches are covered or fenced and photographed every time the crew leaves the garden.
What changes when the building stays occupied during the work?
Occupants are close to the work all day, so the controls have to last all day too. Agree with the building's managers which routes stay open, when noisy or dusty work can happen, and how deliveries reach the work without crossing busy areas. Tell the people affected what is happening and when, and never leave tools, materials or plant unattended where they can be reached. In schools and hospitals, plan the work around the times the area is empty wherever you can.
Who is responsible for protecting the public on a shared site?
Every employer has a duty to people who are not their employees, so each contractor protects the public from its own work. On a construction project, the principal contractor plans and manages the site as a whole, including the boundary and keeping unauthorised people out. A contractor working inside someone else's site still needs its own controls for anything it does near the boundary, such as deliveries, lifting or work on a scaffold over a pavement.
Last updated . See every hazard in the library.
Write the RAMS with these controls already listed.
Pick the hazard, tick its controls, score it and brief the crew, on a phone or laptop. The report goes to the client as one PDF.