Health
and safety law that applies to building and construction work
The Act that always applies
to this kind of work is the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It
essentially demands that the workplace is safe for everybody who is working
there and anyone who might be affected by the work done.
If you are a domestic Client,
it is unlikely you have to worry too much about this, although the people
who are doing the work for you will need to consider it all the time.
There are also a set of general
Regulations called the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations
1999. These say that the risks to safety and health of work activities
must be thought out and controlled properly to make the workplace safe.
Some employers with 5 or more employees will have to write these assessments
down so that the information can be given to the people who need it.
There are also some construction
specific regulations as follows:
- The Construction (Head
Protection) Regulations 1979 ·
- The Construction (Design
and Management) Regulations 1994 ·
- The Construction (Health,
Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996
The first of these says that
where construction work is going on every one should wear a hard hat unless
the person in charge decides it is safe not to do so. If that decision
is taken, the responsibility for the consequences rests on the person
in charge who took the decision.
The second set of regulations,
referred to as CDM, are about planning, resourcing and passing information
on. They demand that any designer considers how to design out risk and
that every company appointed to the task is competent. If you do any design
you will need to know more about these regulations.
CDM also puts heavy duties
on Clients but this does not apply to domestic clients. Be careful though,
if you have more than one property and are working on a property to let
it out or sell it on you may be classified as a Developer, in which case
the Client's duties will apply and you should find out more, though you
architect, engineer, quantity surveyor or other designer should be telling
you what you must do.
The third set of regulations
is about how the actual process of construction must be carried out safely
and sets standards for excavations, work at height, scaffolding, work
off ladders etc. It really applies to those who are doing the work.
If you want to know more
the best summary is a book called Health and Safety in Construction published
by HSE Books. It costs £7.95, is referred to as HS(G) 150 [Health and
Safety General series No 150] and can be ordered from any good bookseller
or direct from HSE Books.
Another useful reference point
is the Working Well Together campaign website
Building extensions or
alterations to property
If you own property that you
wish to extend or alter and employ others to do the work it is very likely
that you will not need to worry too much about being prosecuted for a
breach of the criminal law.
What is much more likely to
be important to think about is the civil law of tort.
Occupiers liability
As an occupier of premises,
that is the person in overall control of a building and its environs,
you have a duty to any one who visits those premises either lawfully or
as a trespasser.
When you have building work
going on the area is almost certainly going to change from normal and
is going to be more dangerous than usual. It is likely that your visitors
will not be familiar with building sites so you will have to be extra
careful for them.
Things to look out for are
holes or any excavation, which should have a secure barrier around, material
falling from height, which should not be able to harm people below and
dust and fumes from work activities.
Remember, you have a contract
with your builder so you can give him instructions because of that. Be
careful though not to get too involved as you may end up having to pay
for additional work or being counted as jointly liable with the builder
if you restrict his choices too much.
Generally you should expect
the work area and its surroundings to be tidy and separate from the walkways
you and you family and friends need to use.
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