Contractors - roles and duties

The contractors have a key role to play, in cooperation with the principal contractor, in planning and managing the work to ensure that risks are properly controlled and they are the most at risk of injury and ill health.

All contractors (including utilities, specialist contractors, contractors nominated by the client and the self-employed) have a part to play in ensuring that the site is a safe and healthy place to work. The key to this is the proper co-ordination of the work, underpinned by good communication and co-operation between all those involved.

Anyone who directly employs, engages construction workers or controls or manages construction work is a contractor for the purposes of these Regulations. This includes companies that use their own workforce to do construction work on their own premises. The duties on contractors apply whether the workers are employees or self-employed and to agency workers without distinction.

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Contractors must:

  1. check clients are aware of their duties;
  2. satisfy themselves that they and anyone they employ or engage are competent and adequately resourced;
  3. plan, manage and monitor their own work to make sure that workers under their control are safe from the start of their work on site;
  4. ensure that any contractor who they appoint or engage to work on the project is informed of the minimum amount of time which will be allowed for them to plan and prepare before starting work on site;
  5. provide workers under their control (whether employed or self-employed) with any necessary information, including about relevant aspects if other contractors’ work, and site induction where not provided by a principal contractor) which they need to work safely, to report problems or to respond appropriately in an emergency;
  6. ensure that any design work they do complies with regulation 11 (designer duties);
  7. comply with any requirements listed in Schedule 2 (provision of sufficient welfare facilities) and part 4 (duties relating to health and safety on construction sites) of these Regulations that apply to their work;
  8. co-operate with others and co-ordinate their work with others working on the project;
  9. ensure the workforce is properly consulted on matters affecting their health and safety;
  10. obtain specialist advice (for example from a structural engineer or occupational hygienist) where necessary when planning high-risk work – for example alterations tat could result in structural collapse or work on contaminated land.

(The above are extracts taken from the Approved Code of Practice for the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007 as produced by the HSC)