A design risk register is the design team's record of the significant health and safety risks in a design: how each was eliminated or reduced, and the residual risks that the contractor, the operator or future designers must know about. It shows that hazards were considered, and passes on what couldn't be designed out.
At a glance
| Kept by | The designers (often coordinated by the principal designer or design lead) |
| Covers | Construction, use, maintenance, cleaning, alteration and demolition |
| Legal basis (UK) | CDM 2015 designers' duties; other countries have similar rules |
| Feeds | Pre-construction information, the contractor's plans, the health and safety file |
| Also called | Designer's risk assessment, hazard log, design risk management register |
What an entry contains
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Hazard | Work at height when maintaining roof plant |
| Where | Roof, AHU 1 and AHU 2 |
| Who is at risk | Maintenance technicians, every three months |
| Action taken | Units moved 4 m from the edge; parapet and walkway added |
| Residual risk | Replacing a fan section needs a lift |
| Information for others | Fan section weight; davit position; roof access by permit |
| Owner and status | Mechanical engineer; closed at stage 4 |
Only significant risks belong in it: hazards that are unusual, not obvious, or hard to manage. Routine risks that any competent contractor manages need not be listed.
How it is used on projects
- At design reviews, the register is the checklist: each risk is looked at in the model with the people who can judge it.
- In the model, residual risks are linked to the elements they concern (a property, a linked note or the register's element references), so they reach whoever works on them.
- At tender and appointment, residual risks go into the pre-construction information for contractors.
- At handover, what remains for operation goes into the health and safety file.
Variations
Some teams keep the register in a spreadsheet with element IDs; others hold risks as BCF issues or as properties on the elements. What matters is that each risk can be found from the element it concerns, and from the register.
Common mistakes
- Generic entries ("working at height") with no location, no action and no owner.
- Only construction risks: maintenance and replacement over the building's life are left out.
- Warning instead of designing: a note is written where the hazard could have been removed.
- Not passed on: the register stays with the design team and never reaches the contractor or operator.
Where to read more
- The UK Health and Safety Executive's guidance on CDM 2015 and the designers' duties.
- Industry guidance on design risk management from professional institutions (for example the RIBA, ICE or CIBSE).
- In other countries, the national construction health and safety regulations.