Hard hats, shoelaces, cat’s eyes…many of the best inventions are simple and you wonder how people ever managed without them. And so is the case with HARM Zero… a collaborative, online, design risk management tool developed by Safer Sphere. 

HARM Zero is a simple concept, providing live project risk registers that can be accessed by all on the project with the ability to sort and classify risks and upload supporting information to help identify and mitigate risks. 

HARM Zero was launched at the beginning of 2020 and rolled out across all Safer Sphere projects. HARM Zero is currently used by circa 360 companies in the construction industry with over 1000 individual users. Over that period, over 2000 significant risks have been identified with over 1000 risks mitigated. We have been delighted by the success of HARM Zero and the way it has transformed the way project teams manage hazards and risks. 

Designer Risk Assessments 

The concept of designer risk assessments came about with the introduction of the Construction Design and Management (CDM) Regulations in 1994. In the early days of the CDM Regulations the ‘Planning Supervisor’ we would request designers to provide ‘designer risk assessments’ setting out how they had mitigated risks through design. 

These ‘designer risk assessments’ were often generic and focused on telling the contractor what they should do rather than focusing on design measures to mitigate risks and providing useful information to the contractor and end users. 

Significant Risks 

 Designing out hazards and risks should be an everyday part of the design development considering the risk for both construction as well as in use and maintenance. The Design Risk Management (DRM) process introduced by CDM encourages designers to collaborate and focus on identifying and designing out ‘significant risks’. 

The HSE CDM guidance L153 describes ‘significant risks’ as ‘not necessarily those that involve the greatest risks, but those (including health risks) that are not likely to be obvious, are unusual, or likely to be difficult to manage effectively’. 

Many designers have hazard checklists and prompters to help identify hazards and risks.  Out of this process significant risks should be highlighted to the wider project team. 

Project Risk Registers – Encouraging Collaboration 

Project risk registers are a widely used tool on construction projects to identify and design out risks relating to cost, time, health and safety…etc.  These registers are typically prepared on an excel spreadsheet or word document with a person / company taking responsibility to keep the register up to date. 

Under CDM 2015 it is common on most projects for health and safety risks to be on a separate register managed by the Principal Designer, so they are not lost or obscured by wider project risks. 

These registers often termed as the project ‘CDM risk register’ or ‘hazard and risk management (HARM) register’…etc focus on health and safety matters and encourage project teams to work collaboratively on a single risk register. 

There are many similar formats for the risk register which essentially fall into 3 parts 

Identify the hazard / risk 

Mitigate the risk – through design and planning 

Provide relevant information to contractor and end user to enable them to control any risk remaining. 

This project risk register approach has evolved from the individual ‘designer risk assessment’ and has helped to avoid designers working in silos. 

For example, when considering how large, heavy items of plant will be installed in a plant room it is not just the M&E designer who can mitigate the risk, for example reducing the size / weight of components.  The architect may be able to design a larger plant room with wider doors or the structural engineer may need to increase the load capacity of the floor or provide lifting beams.  The landscape designer may need to modify the external landscaping to allow a crane to be located in a particular location to lift plant and equipment.  The DRM process needs to be a collaborative approach. 

This is the norm across the construction industry so why change? 

HARM Zero – Live Online Risk Register to Facilitate Collaborative DRM 

The traditional spreadsheet risk register approach relies on the Principal Designer to regularly update and issue the risk register.  This can be done by email or uploaded to a project portal which can be accessed by the client and project team.  An issue with this approach is that the risk register is set up but often not kept up to date as the project progresses through the construction phase. 

Once information is out of date it stops being a useful resource on the project.  Where email is used to disseminate risk information there is a risk that the information has not been sent to all parties who require access to it. HARM Zero provides a ‘live’ HARM Registers that can be accessed by all the project team from the home, office or on site via PC’s, tablets and mobile phones. Information is shared in real time so there is no delay in the transfer of risk information to those who need it. By allowing all users view and contribute to the risk identification and mitigation we are able to pool the project resources and improve the accuracy and detail on the HARM Register. Each risk is assigned a risk ‘owner’ who is the most appropriate person at that point intime to update the risk mitigation measures.  The risk owner will often change throughout the project for example between design disciplines, contractors and end users. 

A Digital Golden Thread 

Dame Judith Hackitt’s ‘Building a Safer Future: Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety’, produced in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy, made a number of recommendations on preventing similar incidents from taking place in the future.  One of these was a call for ‘…industry to recognise and respond to the need for a digital golden thread of information that is an essential part of delivering improvements to building safety…’ 

The live HARM Register provides this digital golden thread running through the project and asset lifecycle to track and manage risks and associated information. Though HARM Zero was designed primarily for construction projects we have had requests by end users to maintain the live register after handover when the asset it in operation. 

The dashboard function in HARM Zero enables clients to manage risk across multiple buildings and sites. 

Identifying and Visualising Risks   

In developing HARM Zero we wanted a tool that we could use to capture risks during site visits.  HARM Zero allows photos, drawings and reports to be uploaded to highlight risks and risk mitigation measures. 

As soon as an issue is seen this can be shared with all the project team.  Photos enable all users to see the issue even if they have not been able to visit site. Drawings can be marked up and uploaded to a particular risk. 

As the saying goes a picture speaks a thousand words and from our experience the visualisation of risks and risk mitigation greatly improves to the design risk management experience and outcomes. 

HARM Zero and the risk visualisation it provides improves the communication and collaboration between design offices and site. 

On one project we were having a CDM risk workshop remote from site and were reviewing the HARM Register and discussing site logistics.  The site manager was identified as the risk owner and during the meeting the site manager (on site) was able to upload site logistics information directly to the HARM Register so it could be reviewed in the workshop. 

Risks from the HARM register can be linked to drawings through safety symbols and objects to enable users to see where the risk is. 

We are currently developing ways that risks and if required risk data can be linked to the BIM model for example using a model viewer linked to the risks so the model can be viewed directly from the HARM Register. 

We have been delighted with the success of HARM Zero and feedback we have received.  We are looking forward to further innovations we have planned and are always keen to hear from like minded companies and individuals.  If you would like to find out further please do get in touch. 

For further information about HARM Zero and the benefits it can bring to projects get in touch at marketing@safersphere.co.uk