Contractors
What is the definition of Contractor?
In general a Contractor means any employer whose employees carry out construction work and includes both main contractor and sub-contractor. Contractor may also include a self-employed person where such a person supplies materials and labour or labour only. In addition, a body such as a local authority may also be a contractor, if the construction work is carried out directly by employees of that body.
What are the duties of Contractors?
The contractor has significant duties relating to a wide range of issues.
A contractor must:
- co-operate with the PSCS – provide a copy of your safety statement and relevant information to the PSCS
- promptly provide the PSCS with information required for the safety file
- comply with directions of the project supervisors
- report accidents to the Authority and to the PSCS where an employee cannot perform their normal work for more than 3 days
- comply with site rules and the safety and health plan and ensure that your employees comply
- identify hazards, eliminate the hazards or reduce risks during construction
- facilitate the site safety representative
- ensure that relevant workers have a safety awareness card and a construction skills card where required
- provide workers with site specific induction
- appoint a safety officer where there are more than 20 on site or 30 employed
- consult workers with site specific induction
- monitor compliance and take corrective action
The construction regulations impose a substantial number of other contractor duties, including a number of new duties:
- Safety at road works
- Explosives
Transitional arrangements of between six and eighteen months apply to the following new duties:
- New construction skills card requirements for road works, mobile erection of mobile tower scaffold, mini-digger operation, self erecting tower crane operation and shot firing.
- Reversing aids and rear visibility for construction plant