Make-Safe Now, Repair Right Later: A Two-Step Plan
- PotholeExpert
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
This is a bind most managers hit at some point. There is a defect in the car park that is dangerous now: a pothole at the entrance, a broken edge by the accessible bay, a hole someone could turn an ankle in. But the proper repair needs a quote, a sign-off and a slot in the schedule, and none of that happens today. So what do you do with the live hazard sitting in your lot while the paperwork catches up?
You make it safe today and repair it right later. That is not a fudge. It is the responsible, defensible move, and it is exactly what your duty as a PCBU points to.
When a same-day make-safe is the right first action
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 your duty is to manage hazards so far as is reasonably practicable. The key word is reasonably. You are not expected to magic a fully approved, fully scoped permanent repair into existence overnight. You are expected to act on a known danger without unreasonable delay. When a defect is dangerous now, the reasonable first action is to control the risk today, even if the permanent fix is still a week or two away.
Waiting until the budget is approved before doing anything at all is the indefensible option. If someone trips in that gap, the question will be what you did the moment you knew. "We made it safe the same day and scheduled the permanent repair" is a strong answer. "We were waiting on a quote" is not.
Cold-mix patch, cordon and signage as legitimate interim controls
A make-safe is not a pretend repair. It is a set of genuine interim controls that take the danger out of the defect while the permanent fix is arranged:
Cold-mix patch. A cold-mix fill takes the trip-hazard and the wheel-jolt out of a pothole the same day, and it takes traffic almost immediately. It is not permanent, and we will not pretend it is, but it makes the hole safe to walk and drive over now.
Cordon. Where a defect cannot be patched safely on the spot, or while the patch is going in, cones and a barrier keep people and vehicles off it.
Signage. Clear signs warn of the hazard and direct people around it.
Used together, these are recognised, sensible interim controls. They are how you hold the line until the proper repair is booked.
Documenting the make-safe to evidence "reasonably practicable"
The make-safe is only half the value if you do not record it. Photograph the defect, the cold-mix patch, the cones and the signage, with the date. Note when you were made aware and what you did. This turns your response into evidence. If a claim or an audit ever looks back at this defect, you can show a dated record that you identified the hazard, controlled it the same day, and planned the permanent fix. That documentation is what "reasonably practicable" looks like on paper. We supply a dated photo record of the make-safe as part of the job, so the evidence is captured for you.
Why interim is not a substitute for the permanent fix
Be clear-eyed about what a cold-mix patch is. It buys time. It does not last. Cold-mix sits in the hole rather than bonding back to sound asphalt, so under traffic and water it works loose, and the defect returns. If you stop at the make-safe and never book the permanent repair, you have simply set a reminder for the same hazard to come back, usually by the next wet winter.
The permanent fix is different work. We saw-cut back to sound asphalt, lay and compact hot-mix, and seal the joints so water cannot get back in. That is what makes a car park repair last instead of returning each season. The make-safe holds the danger; the saw-cut repair removes the defect.
Planning the permanent repair into the next window
With the hazard controlled, the pressure is off and you can do the permanent repair properly: get the fixed quote, get the sign-off, and slot the work into a sensible window rather than scrambling. For a live, public-access lot we can do the permanent repair after-hours or in stages, with cones and a spotter, so trading carries on. The point of the two-step is exactly this breathing room: you are no longer choosing between a rushed, half-approved job and leaving a danger open.
The cost and timing of two-step versus emergency one-step
A planned two-step is usually the cheaper and calmer path. An emergency one-step, where you demand a full permanent repair on no notice, costs more because you are paying for urgency and disrupting the lot at short notice. The two-step splits it: a low-cost make-safe today, then the permanent repair scheduled efficiently once approved. You spend less overall, the lot is disrupted on your terms, and the hazard is controlled the whole time. The same approach works for a standalone pothole repair that is dangerous before its budget is ready.
Both steps are backed by the 12-month workmanship warranty on the permanent repair, and the dated before-and-after report ties the make-safe and the final fix into one clean record for your file.
Send a photo of the defect and we will quote the make-safe and the permanent repair together, fixed price, within 24 hours. Get a fixed quote and take the danger out of your car park today, then fix it right when the sign-off lands.
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