AF1 Form (HSA): What It Is and When to File It

A client must send an AF1 when construction work is planned to last longer than 30 working days, or the volume of work is scheduled to exceed 500 person-days. Passing either test is enough. The Regulations treat a homeowner having work done on their own home as a client, so a long house build, extension or renovation is covered by the same tests.

• Working daysEvery day on which construction work is carried out counts, including weekends and holidays, even if the work that day is short.
• Person-daysOne person, including supervisors and specialists, doing construction work for one normal working shift.
• ExampleTwenty-five people on site for 21 working days is 525 person-days: over the 500 person-day threshold even though the job takes fewer than 30 working days.
• Project supervisorsA project that passes either test must also have a Project Supervisor for the Design Process (PSDP) and a Project Supervisor for the Construction Stage (PSCS), each appointed in writing. They are also needed when more than one contractor is involved or the work involves a particular risk.
• DIYThe HSA's guide for homeowners says the Regulations apply to construction work you pay to have done in your home. They do not apply to DIY jobs.

Sources: 4, 5, 6, 9

The client sends the AF1. The Regulations define the client as the person for whom a project is carried out, and the HSA's guidance says this includes homeowners having work done on their own home. The form is signed by the client or on the client's behalf, but the Regulations place the duty to notify on the client.

• ClientAppoints the PSDP and the PSCS in writing, gets written acceptance of each appointment, and sends the AF1 about those appointments.
• PSDPUsually a firm of architects, chartered surveyors, consulting engineers or project managers. It can also be the main contractor, for example on a design and build contract. The HSA says there is only one PSDP for each project.
• Self-appointmentA client can appoint itself as PSDP or PSCS, or appoint one person or company to both roles, if competent to do the job.
• More than one clientClients can agree in writing that one or more of them will be treated as the client. The others then keep only the safety file duties.
• HomeownersAnyone a homeowner appoints as project supervisor, designer or contractor on their own home must show they are competent and have the resources to do the work safely.
• Designers and contractorsIf they are not aware of any project supervisor appointments, they must promptly tell the client about its duty to make them.

Sources: 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Regulation 10 asks for the particulars that are known, or can reasonably be known, about the project supervisor appointments. The AF1 is a one-page form in four parts. Unlike the AF2, it doesn't ask for a start date, a duration or a workforce estimate.

Sources: 4, 5, 10

The Regulations say the notice must be in writing on the approved form, sent by registered post or as the HSA directs. The AF1 itself says to send it by registered post to the HSA, Metropolitan Building, James Joyce Street, Dublin 1. The HSA's guidance for clients and homeowners also gives an email address for the form, [email protected]. The HSA's online Construction Notification (AF1 & AF2) system is named for both forms, and its sign-in page says the notification should be completed by the client at the start of the design process. You register with an email address and password; if you already use the HSA's online accident reporting (IR1) system, the same login works.

• 1. Appoint the PSDPAppoint the PSDP in writing at or before the start of the design process and get its written acceptance. Include the PSCS if one has been chosen.
• 2. Fill in the formClient details, PSDP details, PSCS details if known, a description of the project and the exact site address.
• 3. Send it promptlyBy registered post, by email as the HSA's guidance allows, or through the HSA's online system.
• 4. Keep a recordThe online system keeps a history of your notifications and lets you print a copy for your records.

• AF1 approved form (PDF, HSA)
• HSA Construction Notification (AF1 & AF2) system
• HSA forms page

Sources: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9

After the AF1, the PSDP takes account of the general principles of prevention during design and coordinates the work of the designers. Because the project passes the AF1 test, the PSDP must also prepare a preliminary safety and health plan.

• Safety and health planThe PSDP prepares it in time for the client to give a copy to everyone being considered or tendering for the PSCS role. On a homeowner's own home, the client gives it to the PSCS once appointed.
• PSCSThe client appoints the PSCS in writing before construction work begins. The PSCS develops the plan into a construction stage safety and health plan before work starts.
• AF2The PSCS sends its own notice to the HSA, the AF2, before construction work begins, and displays the details on site.
• ChangesIf appointments change after the first notice, the AF1 can also be used to tell the HSA.
• PSDP noticesIf a designer or contractor does not carry out a written direction from the PSDP, the PSDP must tell the HSA, the client and that person in writing. There is no approved form for this.
• Safety fileWhen the project is complete, the PSDP delivers a safety file to the client. The client keeps it available and passes it on to a new owner if the building is sold.

Sources: 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11

Each of these misreads the timing, the thresholds or who the duty falls on.

• Waiting for a builderThe AF1 is for notice before the design process begins. The PSCS section only has to be filled in if known, so don't hold the form until a contractor is chosen.
• Leaving it to the PSCSThe AF2 is the PSCS's notice before work starts. It doesn't replace the client's AF1: a project over the threshold needs both.
• Counting weekdays onlyWeekends and holidays count as working days if construction work happens on them.
• Treating the thresholds as a pairA project needs an AF1 if it passes either test: more than 30 working days, or more than 500 person-days.
• Notifying without appointingThe AF1 reports the appointments. The PSDP must be appointed in writing at or before the start of the design process, and the client must get its acceptance in writing.
• Assuming a house doesn't countSince 2013 a homeowner paying for work on their own home is a client, so a long house build (including one by direct labour), extension or renovation is judged by the same tests.

Sources: 3, 4, 5, 6, 9

Other HSA forms that often sit beside an AF1 on a construction project.

• AF2Particulars the PSCS notifies to the HSA before the construction work begins, on the same 30 working day or 500 person-day test.
• Appointment formThe HSA's Guide for Homeowners includes a form a homeowner can use to appoint the PSDP and PSCS and record their acceptance.
• AF3Thorough examination of excavations, shafts, earthworks, underground works or tunnels, and of cofferdams or caissons.
• GA2 and GA3Records of the weekly examination of lifting equipment, and of inspections of work equipment for work at a height, such as scaffolds.

• AF2 form explained
• AF2 approved form (PDF, on the HSA's BeSMART.ie)
• HSA Guide for Homeowners (PDF)
• GA2 and GA3 forms explained

Sources: 1, 9, 10

PlanningBrief follows projects from planning permission to the start of work on site. The larger housing schemes and commercial builds on these pages are the kind of project an AF1 is for. Use them to see which sites are moving from design to construction.

• Projects starting on site
• Site starts this week
• Housing starts
• Biggest projects