In addition to employers, employees and self-employed persons, clients also have a responsibility to ensure a healthy and safe working environment. At the start of a project, a client makes all kinds of choices for a building.
For example the design, budget, planning, or the environment where it will be located. These choices have consequences for the way in which contractors and subcontractors can carry out the work.
Healthy and safe in all phases
The client must ensure that the choices made in the initiative and design phase result in the healthy and safe construction, use, maintenance and demolition of the building. The client must also provide information about the conditions at the work site in the tender documents. For example:
- Is the soil clean or contaminated?
- Is there an asbestos survey report?
- Will work be carried out at height?
- Can a mechanical paver be used?
- Can a safe working area be set up?
These are statutory obligations (construction process provisions) for healthy and safe working in the construction industry, including civil and hydraulic engineering.
E-magazine on Responsible contracting
This publication provides information on responsible contracting, illustrated with examples. lt covers design, specifications, health and safety plans, agreements with contractors and transfer moments.
The role, responsibilities and activities of other parties, such as employers, main contractors and subcontractors, consultants and self-employed persons, are also discussed.
Furthermore, attention is paid to the role of the Netherlands Labour Authority and links to practical guidelines for clients and contractors are provided. Read the E-magazine on Responsible contracting.
What does the Netherlands Labour Authority do?
The Netherlands Labour Authority has 2 lines of approach when inspecting these construction process provisions.
- A visit to the client, during which the Labour Authority assesses from the design phase onwards whether the tender documents, such as the health and safety plan, comply with the rules. This is followed by an assessment at the construction site.
- lt also happens that an inspection visit to a construction site gives rise to an escalation to the client.
Renovation or maintenance? Go to checklistasbest.nl
Are you going to renovate or demolish an existing building? Always check whether you may come into contact with asbestos. Companies that are going to carry out work in buildings and are not certified to remove asbestos can do a check at checklistasbest.nl (Dutch).
Fair working practices
Clients and contractors are also responsible for complying with rules on 'fair working practices'. This includes matters such as minimum wage, working hours and permits for foreign werkers. In certain situations, you as the client may be held liable for outstanding wages and payroll taxes, or for unpaid turnover tax. This is called vicarious tax liability.
Would you like to know which rules you need to take into account? Check the Fair work self inspection tool (Dutch).
More information
- The brochure titled 'Building healthily and safely together' is about the roles and obligations of the various parties during the design phase, the implementation phase and the user phase of a project.
- Detailed information about the role of clients in healthy and safe working can be found on the Responsible contracting (Dutch) page at arboportaal.nl.
- The Central Government Real Estate Agency has developed a Step-by-step H&S manual (Dutch) for clients. Clients can use this manual to check whether they are complying with their statutory health and safety obligations.