F10 Notification: When a Project Must Be Notified to the HSE

Pro Site Docs · Guide

The F10 is the one piece of CDM paperwork that goes to the regulator rather than staying on site, which is why it gets more anxiety than it deserves. The test is short, the form is free, and it changes nothing else about your duties.

The two tests in regulation 6

A project is notifiable if the construction work is expected to last longer than 30 working days and have more than 20 workers working simultaneously at any point, or to exceed 500 person-days. The first test has two halves and both must be met - a 60-day job with a gang of six is not notifiable on that test. The second test stands alone: a short, heavily-manned job can tip over 500 person-days in a fortnight.

Working days are days on which construction work takes place. Person-days are the total across all contractors for the whole construction phase. Use the F10 notification checker to run the numbers from your programme.

Who notifies

The client, under regulation 6(1). On a domestic project the client's duties transfer under regulation 7 to the contractor, or to the principal contractor where there is more than one contractor, so in practice the builder notifies. A principal designer can do it on the client's behalf but the duty stays with the client.

When and how

As soon as practicable before the construction phase begins. The notice is submitted online through the HSE's F10 service and there is no fee. It must contain the particulars in Schedule 1: the address, a description of the project, the client's, principal designer's and principal contractor's details, the planned start date and duration, the maximum number of people expected on site at any one time, the number of contractors, and a declaration that the client is aware of their duties. A copy has to be displayed in the site office where workers can read it, and it must be updated if the particulars change materially - a longer programme, a different principal contractor.

What notification does not do

Before 2015 notification triggered the appointment of a CDM co-ordinator and the need for a construction phase plan. It no longer triggers anything. Every project needs a construction phase plan; every project with more than one contractor needs a principal designer and a principal contractor; every site needs welfare from the first day. A non-notifiable job has all of the same duties minus one form. The HSE does not visit because you notified, and does not skip you because you did not.

Getting the numbers right

Count everyone doing construction work at the busiest point, across every contractor on site - the peak is usually second fix, not groundworks. Count working days from the first day of construction work to the last, including snagging if it is construction work. For person-days, take the programme, estimate the headcount per week, and add it up; a round guess of days times peak headcount will overstate it because the peak lasts a few weeks, not the whole job. If you are close to a threshold, notify - there is no penalty for notifying a project that turns out not to need it, and there is an offence for not notifying one that did.

Get the documents ready-made

Notifiable or not, the construction phase plan has to exist before the first day. Our CDM 2015 templates include the plan, the pre-construction information and an F10 checklist as editable Word documents.

General guidance only. This article explains how the rules generally work in UK construction. It is not advice for your specific site, task or project, and it is not legal advice. Your own risk assessment, method statement and arrangements must be prepared and checked by a competent person for the actual work being done.