Clients - roles and duties

As the client you arguably have the biggest influence over the way a project is run - and so it is your job to ensure you employ a competent team of individuals.

You decide who makes up the project team and evaluate whether they are competent before then appointing them, which, in line, makes you directly accountable for any health and safety issues throughout the life of the project.

NB Clients only have duties when the project is associated with a business or other undertaking such as Private Finance Initiatives, not on domestic projects.

For each individual project clients must make sure that:

1. Designers, contractors and other team members that they propose to engage are competent (or work under the supervision of a competent person), are adequately resourced and appointed early enough for the work they have to do.
2. They allow sufficient time for each stage of the project, from concept onwards.
3. They co-operate with others concerned in the project as is necessary to allow other duty holders to comply with their duties under the Regulations.
4. They co-ordinate their own work with others involved with the project in order to ensure the safety of those carrying out the construction work, and other ho may be affected by it.
5. There are reasonable management arrangements in place throughout the project to ensure that the construction work can be carried out, so far as is reasonably practicable, safely and without risk to health. (This does not mean managing the work themselves, as few clients have the expertise and resources needed and it can cause confusion.
6. Contractors have made arrangements for suitable welfare facilities to be provided from the start and throughout the construction phase.
7. Any fixed workplaces (for example offices, shops, factories, schools) which are to be constructed will comply, in respect of their design and the materials used, with any requirements of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.
8. Relevant information likely to be needed by designers, contractors or others to plan and manage their work is passed to them in order to comply with regulation 10.