King's College London is a world-leading university, dedicated to the advancement of knowledge, learning and society. King's vision is to make the world a better place by being exceptional in all that it does. We are fully committed to a safe and sustainable estate, minimising the effect of its operations on the environment and will only engage with those contractors who are also fully committed.

Contractors are expected to familiarise themselves with procedures, precautions and guidelines to keep everyone safe. Contractors must:

1. Comply with statutory obligations.
2. Comply with our Health, Safety & Welfare Policy
3. Comply with our Rules & Regulations for Contractors 
4. Comply with our  Environmental Sustainability Policy
5. Comply with our Waste & Resources Management Policy
6. Ensure that all their staff working on our estate have received a campus induction. Campus induction documents can be found on our Contractors Induction page.

Primarily, contractors are bound by the duties contained within the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. This places duties upon King’s and contractors to ensure the health and safety of employees and others who may be affected by the work. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (as amended 2003), require cooperation and co-ordination of work activities where two or more employers share a workplace, whether temporary or on a permanent basis.

Dependent upon the nature of the work involved, other legislation will also apply, for example and not limited to the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (as amended 2003).

We expect you to work in accordance with the written arrangements and the suitable and sufficient risk assessments you carry out in relation to your work activities. The Project Manager you’re working with will request evidence of these before you start work and can ask for them at any time you’re on site. Make sure that you and your staff are familiar with them. You should also ensure that you are familiar with any local building rules.

A “contractor” is any person or company the university engages to do work of any kind who is not an employee. The activities they can be engaged to carry out include:-

• construction and demolition work
• installation of equipment or machinery or its maintenance, including maintenance to buildings and its infrastructure
• cleaning / decorating
• moving / dismantling / assembly
• inspecting, testing and servicing
• consultancy work requiring access to the estate

A “contractor” is not:

• a delivery company delivering items such as furniture to the university; (excluding assembly on site)
• a supplier of goods or equipment (excluding installation on site)
• temporary workers

All of the above are not considered as contractor but will need to be subject to other checking and competence requirements.

“Construction Work” has been defined within the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM) as the carrying out of any building, civil engineering or engineering construction work and includes:

a) the construction, alteration, conversion, fitting out, commissioning, renovation, repair, upkeep, redecoration or other maintenance (including cleaning which involves the use of water or an abrasive at high pressure, or the use of corrosive or toxic substances), de-commissioning, demolition or dismantling of a structure

b) the preparation for an intended structure, including site clearance, exploration, investigation (but not site survey) and excavation (but not pre-construction archaeological investigations), and the clearance or preparation of the site or structure for use or occupation at its conclusion

c) the assembly on site of prefabricated elements to form a structure or the disassembly on site of the prefabricated elements which, immediately before such disassembly, formed a structure

d) the removal of a structure, or of any product or waste resulting from demolition or dismantling of a structure, or from disassembly of prefabricated elements which immediately before such disassembly formed such a structure

e) the installation, commissioning, maintenance, repair or removal of mechanical, electrical, gas, compressed air, hydraulic, telecommunications, computer or similar services which are normally fixed within or to a structure,

but does not include the exploration for, or extraction of, mineral resources, or preparatory activities carried out at a place where such exploration or extraction is carried out

All contractors working at King’s College London must each complete the relevant campus induction. The induction must be completed in advance of arriving on site and be signed and dated by each individual to reflect the date that the induction was completed.

Signatures must be in one of the following formats:-

1. Hand written signature
2. Digitally inserted hand written signature
3. Adobe date/time stamp

The last page of the induction presentation must be printed and completed before being scanned and returned to Permits@kcl.ac.uk, or directly to your KCL contact.

Asbestos awareness training for all persons must also be provided for each individual likely to work under a Works Permit, and this may be registered as a competency against the individual.

Properties not within the above list inductions include some void/derelict buildings would not be covered within the above and may be subject to a specific induction. Please contact Permits@kcl.ac.uk should you require access to these.

General information about the estate can be found here: Our campuses | Visit King’s | King’s College London (kcl.ac.uk)

There is currently an induction per campus so you may need to complete more than one induction:

An Access Permit is used for allowing contractors access to King's premises and carry out low risk activities.

• Access Permits do not require the level of controls for works involving the above but still gives King's and Security Teams visibility as to which contractors are on site, when and where.
• Access Permits are managed locally and can be provided by Permit Approvers on the ePermits System. Permit Approvers are those persons that are authorised by KCL to permit the access and ensure the safe working arrangements are agreed.

A General Work Permit is issued when a contractor’s task involves higher risk activities.

• Additional controls will be required and these may include permits to work for isolations, inspections, Hot Works or specialist training and equipment.
• Works must be properly planned and sufficient time must be allocated to prepare for the task.

Before being issued a permit, contractors must complete a Risk Assessment and Method Statement (RAMS) suitable and sufficient for the task at hand. RAMS must be accepted by the KCL contact/instructing party before a permit is raised.

NOTE: New ePermits System KCL are in the process of deploying a new Permit to Work System, which will be rolled out on a staged basis (campus by campus).  Inductions received are currently being logged against both systems to ensure a seamless transfer however inductions are being transferred manually so please alert us if you find an existing induction is not on the system. ePermits Deployment Program: April - Denmark Hill Campus May - St Thomas’ & Waterloo Campus June - Guy’s Campus, Residences & Sports Grounds June/July - Strand Campus & Remote Properties What does this mean for contractors working on the KCL estate? If the works are requested at a location where the new ePermits System is live, then your Company must be set up on the new system. To do this please contact Permits@kcl.ac.uk confirming the contact name/number/email address person(s) whom you wish to have access to manage your Business Profile. Comm’s will be sent out to all contractors encouraging this to be done before the go-live date. Once activated the business profile will need to be complete to include ALL requirements laid out below under ePermits – setting up a new company. Unlike the existing system Permits require the RAMS to be registered to the Business Profile and accepted by a KCL Team prior to the Permit being requested. Please note the processes below.

 

Setting up a new company

For all queries and support regarding the existing permit system please contact Permits@kcl.ac.uk.

You will need to provide a signed F03 & F064 form, along with a copy of the companies Public and Employers Liability Insurance (minimum £5,000,000 each).

Once these have been all logged on the system this completes the company set-up for the next 12 months (or when the insurance expires).

KCL Inductions

All contractors must complete and return a KCL Contractor Induction to Permits@kcl.ac.uk to have uploaded straight onto the Permit System by my team under the company name.

Requesting a Permit

Permit requests may be made in one of two ways as applicable: -

1. If your work requests have been made through a KCL Project Manager then please liaise through them for the Permit requests.
2. To make a request to the local Asset Maintenance team please send
   1. A brief description of the works/location
   2. Date for the works to be carried out

 

A Permit must be in place before a contractor can commence work on the KCL estate.

The following stages will be followed in order to raise any type of Permit:

• Company must be set up on the system and Business Profile up to date.
• RAMS must be uploaded for the planned activity and accepted by an authorised person at KCL.

Permit stages

1. Permit Requested
2. Permit Submitted (pending Approval)
3. Permit Approved (registered as planned works but not signed issued to the contractor)
4. Permit Issued (sent to the contractor and valid to work on site)
5. Permit Closed by KCL (no longer valid for works on site)

How to set up a new company / Business Profile

If you need to add a company to the Permit System please provide directly to Permits@kcl.ac.uk: -

• Complete/Return KCL Contractor Acknowledgement Forms (F03 & F064) to demonstrate that your company/employee/sub-contractors will comply with KCL Rules & Regs for Contractors and Asbestos Procedures.
• Public Liability Insurance (minimum £5,000,000).
• Employers Liability Insurance (minimum £5,000,000).

 Once the above has been accepted by KCL and logged on the system the contact (confirmed on the contractor acknowledgement forms) will be set up as a user and invited to activate the Company Business Profile.

Your Business Profile will need to be updated with the following information:

• Insurance Details (Public & Product Liability, Employers Liability; will need to be provided and kept in date before any permits are issued.)
• Teams (Optional: Create Teams for different types of work)
• Asbestos Contractor (As Applicable: Add license details; will need to be provided and kept in date before any permits are requested.)
• People (All individuals within your company who would attend site need to be added to the system, along with their competencies)

(Permits cannot be submitted for approval if the correct competencies for certain work are not met)

Providing RAMS

• RAMS (RAMS need to be uploaded and approved before a permit can be submitted) Any RAMs you have already got in place can be uploaded and approved ready for when a permit is required.
• When uploading the system will ask you to identify the team to “accept” the RAMS on KCL’s behalf. If unsure, then please ask your KCL contact. 

With regards to CDM compliance, where the site will be under the control of the contractor then please refer to the below ‘Registering a CDM Contractor Managed Site on the KCL Estate’ section. In place of the RAMS should be the Construction Phase Plan and Logistics Plan specific to the Project.

How to access ePermits?

King’s College London Permit System may be accessed here: ePermits (e-permits.co.uk)

 

Registered Employee’s

Before requesting a Permit the contractor employee must complete a relevant KCL Site Induction. Please see above section of this page for KCL Site Inductions.

Contractors may access their Employee’s profile as long as they have company admin rights.

Certain works require the company to confirm the competence of the employees by the company admin as required.

If the Permit is requested without the below in place then this will be notified in the Permit Validation and will need to be resolved before the Permit is Issued.

• KCL Site Induction will be registered by KCL and required for ALL permits.
• Affiliated Asbestos Awareness Training may be registered by the company admin and is required for all other than the Access / Asbestos Permit

 

Permit Type - Competency Required

• Access Permit
• General Work Permit
• Hot Work Permit
• Work at Height Permit - Work at Height Training
• Confined Space Permit - Confined Space Training
• Excavation Permit - Excavation Training
• Asbestos Permit - Licensable work with Asbestos Training
• Isolate Electrical LV - Qualified Electrician
• Isolate Electrical HV - HV Authorised; HV Qualified
• Isolate Mechanical System - Mechanical Engineer
• Isolate Boiler & Pressure System - Mechanical Engineer; Combustion Engineer
• Isolate Fire System - Fire Engineer
• Test Boiler & Pressure System - Mechanical Engineer; Combustion Engineer
• Test Electrical LV - Qualified Electrician
• Work on or near live Electrical LV - Qualified Electrician

The above should not be considered as an exhaustive list of competencies requires but as a minimum standard.

Additional competencies may be identified by the company’s assessment of the risk.

What to do if the Permit is not Issued to the contractor in time?

Works may not commence without a valid permit in place.

The above Permit Procedures must be complied with in all KCL Managed Spaces, including those where non-KCL departments occupy embedded space within a KCL building.

King’s space located within any building which is managed by a separate party (e.g. King’s space located within the Hospital, PFI managed or leased buildings) would be subject to the local contractor management arrangements, along with the duty to manage to comply with King’s College London standards.

If you are unsure, for further guidance and advice please contact Permits@kcl.ac.uk stating clearly where the location of the works is and request clarification on the local arrangements.

The Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM) imposes certain duties on the safe management of construction activities and suitable management of the construction site, in order to ensure the safety of the workers and others that may be affected.

Appointments of key duty holders

Where the construction project will require the services of more than one contractor, or if it is reasonably foreseeable that more than one contractor will be working on a project at any time, KCL may appoint in writing: -

• A Principal Designer
• A Principal Contractor

Please refer to the Regulations to ensure that you understand and are able to fulfil the duties before accepting and commencing works.

Notifiable Works

Where the construction phase of the project is expected to:

1. Last longer than 30 days & have 20 or more persons on site at any one time or,
2. Involve more than 500 person-days,

The project is likely to require KCL to make formal notification to the HSE of the works. Please advise your KCL contact if you believe this to be the case.

Registering a ‘CDM Contractor Managed Site’ on the KCL Estate

A CDM ‘Contractor Managed Site’ is a space by which the management of the safety, security and construction activities have been handed to a named Contractor to manage for the duration of the works.

Maintenance and compliance duties may differ by arrangement and should be agreed with the KCL Client Representative in writing.

It is a contractor’s responsibility to ensure that a Permit System is in place for the duration of a project. The contractor may benefit by having this duty delegated through the ePermit System by arrangement but will require advance notice and arrangements to be mutually agreed with the ‘Infrastructure & Fire Safety Team’ (Permits@kcl.ac.uk).

Every CDM Site should be confirmed by means of an Access Permit being issued which includes the following details:

• Principal Contractor contact details
• Principal Designer contact details
• KCL Project Manager contact details
• Attached: Construction Phase Plan (in place of RAMS)
• Clear demonstration of the site plan/perimeter

Note: This does not demonstrate all duties under the CDM Regs, and further consideration should be made in relation to the whole project.

Our aim is to ensure we undertake and manage all work and activity across our estate in a manner that ensures the safety of all students, staff and visitors.

• If you are working on within a construction site, please ensure you have had the project induction and follow the designated procedures and safe systems of work.
• If you are working on planned or reactive maintenance requests:
  • Always report to our Estates & Facilities office prior to starting any work on our estate. This will ensure we are aware of your work on site and can make you aware of any significant hazards. Always sign out with our team prior to leaving site.
  • Always undertake a risk assessment and method statement and ensure all members of your team are properly briefed prior to starting work.
  • Always ensure that any member of your team has had the relevant campus induction prior to starting work.
  • Always report any hazard or near miss to our Estates & Facilities team so they can take the appropriate action to help prevent an accident.

Our Rules & Regulations for Contractors explain in detail the rules that contractors are expected to comply with. All contractors working on our sites must complete and return Form FO03 (Contractors Rules and Regulations Notification and Acknowledgement) and Form FO64 (Asbestos Contractor’s Notification and Acknowledgement) forms as well as supply evidence to confirm insurance cover of:

• At least £5 million for public liability insurance.
• At least £5 million for employers' liability insurance.

Additional Considerations:

Completed FO03, FO64 and evidence to confirm insurance coverage must be returned to Permits@kcl.ac.uk for record purposes.

Documents

• EF-ASU-02-PR60 V5.3 Contractors Rules & Regulations - (pdf) 369 Kb
• EF-ASU-04-FO3 and FO64 - (pdf) 381 Kb

Asbestos

All work which may interfere with the fabric of the building must be subject to a review by the Assurance Asbestos Team before works can commence, please refer to our Asbestos Management Plan which you can find below.