The Duties of Building Contractors

The Duties of Building Contractors

The contractor is obliged to Follow the requirements and preventive principles of work healthcare and work safety laws and devise a construction site management project during the period of preparation for construction. Prohibit work for laborers who lack the knowledge and skills of their speciality and the relevant knowledge of healthcare and work safety, and are intoxicated with either alcohol or narcotics. Inform the technical supervision organization of a work accident that was caused by a non-conformity to restrictions on the construction or the building as soon as possible. Give any relevant information to the technical supervision organizations representative or any other authorized personnel in order to find the cause of a work accident, in the meantime preserving the scene and outcome of the accident. Enforce systematic internal control of the work environment, during which he or she organizes, plans and monitors the company’s healthcare and safety situation according to the law or restrictions made by enacted legislation. The internal control of the work environment is an inseparable part of the operations of the company. This control will involve the laborers and will involve the work environment risk assessment. The risk assessment clarifies the work environment’s hazards, if need be measures their parameters and assesses the risks to laborers’ health and safety, taking into account gender and age discrepancies. Annually review the status of the work environment’s internal control and analyses the results. If required, proper adjustments must be made according to any variations discovered. The results of the risk assessment will be documented and preserved for 55 years. Devise a policy (and allocate funds) for the work environment risk assessment in which there are: operations to reduce or avoid health risks, a time schedule and enforcement mechanisms. This policy is to be enforced in every field of activity and at every management level throughout the company. Organize a new risk assessment if working conditions change, if work equipment or technologies are modified or upgraded, if there is new information on a hazard posing a risk to human health, if, because of an accident or a dangerous situation, the risk level has risen or the work healthcare doctor has identified an illness linked to the laborers’ work through a health check. Ensure that the laborers working in a danger zone have had special training or special guidance or are being supervised by a laborer who has. Inform an underage laborer, or that person’s legal guardian, of the risks and precautions taken to ensure his or her safety. Inform laborers of risks, the results of the risk assessment and the precautions being taken to avoid bodily injury through work environment proxies, members of the work environment council and the laborers’ trustees. Implement measures from contracts of employment and collective agreements to avoid physical harm and to neutralize the effects of the risk hazards mentioned earlier. Organize work healthcare and cover the costs. Organize health checks on laborers who might be affected by hazards because of the nature of their work, as defined here or in any other legal act involving the matter, and cover the costs. Appoint laborers fit to give first-aid within the company, bearing in mind the size of the company and its division to sub-units, and organize first-aid training and cover the costs. If the company’s sub-units are in different territories or work in shifts, then there must be at least one laborer at all times In the sub-unit or work shift who has first-aid training. Ensure the availability of first-aid kits to every laborer. The first-aid kits must be properly labelled and easily accessible. Transfer a laborer to another field of work or temporarily ease his or her work conditions, according to the laws of employment, if he or she demands it and has a doctor’s recommendation. Provide personal protective equipment, work clothing and means of cleaning, if the nature of the work demands it, and organize special training in the use of personal protective equipment. Introduce work healthcare and work safety regulations to the laborers and enforce them. Organize proper training for work a laborer is either starting or being moved to, according to work healthcare and work safety guidelines. Guidance or special training must be repeated if the work equipment and technology is either replaced or upgraded. Devise and authenticate a safety manual for the work being done and the work equipment being used, and inform laborers of how to refrain from polluting the environment. Inform the local Labor Inspectorate of the start, or change, of operations in the field of work of the contractor’s company. Note: The employer has the right to enforce more stringent work healthcare and work safety regulations within the company than are present in the enacted legislation. Source: The Engineer’s Manual of Construction Site Planning, First Edition. Jüri Sutt, Irene Lill and Olev Müürsepp. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.   ;