Common Mistakes When Preparing a DfSP Consultancy Scope
Scope-of-work specifications for DfSP engagements vary widely between tenders in practice, sometimes deviating from published DfS guidance. This causes confusion for bidders, inconsistent deliverables, and fee quotations that do not reflect the actual work required.
Direct answer
Reviews of DfS implementation have found that scope-of-work specifications issued by Developers (or their appointees) often vary significantly between tenders, sometimes deviating from the Workplace Safety and Health Guidelines Design for Safety or the WSH (Design for Safety) Regulations themselves. This creates room for error on both sides of an appointment.
Frequent mistakes
- Vague or incomplete scope — leaving bidders to guess which deliverables (Register, minutes, follow-up reviews) are actually included
- Confusing DfSP duties with site safety duties — specifying responsibilities that belong to the Contractor's workplace safety personnel
- No provision for follow-up reviews — pricing only the fixed-stage reviews and omitting reviews triggered by design changes
- Engaging the DfSP through an intermediary — reducing the DfSP's direct line to the Developer, the party with the greatest influence over design
- Treating the Register as a deliverable at handover only — rather than a document maintained throughout the project
The IES Proforma
To help address this, the Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES) Health & Safety Engineering Technical Committee developed a Proforma for Scope of Consultancy Services for Engagement of a DfS Professional by Developers. The Proforma is offered for reference and guidance — it is not itself a mandatory legal instrument — and is intended to reduce the scope-of-work confusion described above. Where a Developer requires duties beyond the standard scope, these are best set out separately rather than left ambiguous.
The IES Proforma is guidance and a reference scope, not a mandatory legal instrument. It is a useful starting point for drafting a clear, complete DfSP appointment — the final scope should still be agreed and documented for each specific project.
See our full DfSP services scope → for the deliverables we typically include in a proposal.
Official references
- GuidanceWSH Council, Workplace Safety and Health Guidelines — Design for Safety — official source →
- ReferenceIES Health & Safety Engineering Technical Committee, Proforma for Engagement of Design for Safety Professional (Rev 2, 2018) — reference and guidance only, not a mandatory instrument