As a client, you can think of the construction site as a unique temporary factory. Within a relatively short time, it has to start running to create the final product - a building, a bridge, a road, a renovation, an extension and so on.
This can create dangerous situations. For example: environmental risks around the construction site, builders getting in each other's way, contaminated soil, special risks such as workers getting buried under material, getting stuck, falling, risks created by the design of the building, overly tight deadlines creating dangerous work situations.
Safe building
Safe building starts even before the ground is broken. It pays to consider health and safety implications in the construction phase as early as during the preparation stage, when designing and choosing materials. Read more about responsibilities in the latest construction process provisions. This sets out legal obligations for clients, contractors, employers and self-employed workers on construction sites.
To prevent or mitigate these risks as much as possible, you, as the client, must make a risk inventory and evaluation for construction site-specific risks for all employers and self-employed workers working on the construction site. We call this a Health & Safety Plan (H&S Plan). This contains not only an assessment of the risks but also details of measures (choices!) to prevent the risks or mitigate their consequences.
According to the Working Conditions Act, you must always tackle risks at the source at the earliest stage possible. A client must organise this as early as during the design phase.
In construction, safe building and healthy working must be an integral part of the construction process. Safety affects the progress of the work and staying on schedule. Accidents and mishaps may cause long-term personal suffering. The Labour Authority therefore intensively monitors compliance with the Working Conditions Act in the construction industry.
During the design phase, the client must appoint a design phase coordinator. The various (sub)contractors often involved in execution are also bound by the safety policy at work. To organise this properly, the executing party is obliged to ensure that a coordinator for the execution phase is appointed. The client and executing party agree on this together and record it in a written agreement.
A fixed part of the start of the work is an information session. This meeting should discuss potential risks, safety for all employees and the safety policies that apply. Information should also be accessible and understandable to colleagues from abroad.
Safety should be a fixed agenda item in work meetings. This will keep everyone focused on safe building and preventing unsafe behaviour and risky situations. This is not a problem if everyone is and remains fully aware of the importance of safe building. These experiences can lead to additional measures, including an action in the RI&E or tightening the regulations.
