WEA Guidelines F.1.2
March 2003
Replace WES-Information Notice 6.0.1.3, March 1999
A client may - in his capacity as an orderer of building and civil engineering work - have considerable influence as to how the working environment will be on the future construction site. The client should therefore consider certain occupational health and safety aspects before the building and civil engineering work is put out to tender. The client should establish an occupational health and safety policy and in connection with the tender require that this occupational health and safety policy be complied with in connection with the performance of the building and civil engineering work.
By making requirements concerning the materials selected and by involving himself in the construction, the client will have considerable and favourable influence on the occupational health and safety during the construction period. Besides, the client’s requirements concerning selection of the least hazardous building materials and components may have an impact on the occupational health and safety in the finished building, e.g. on the indoor climate in the building.
1. Who is the client?
Within the meaning of the occupational health and safety legislation, the client is the natural or legal person on whose account building and civil engineering work is carried out, e.g.:
The client is the person who orders the construction of a building. If a contractor on his own account erects a building with a view to sale, or it has been agreed that the user of the building only buys it after the completion, the contractor is in both cases the client. In this connection it is of no importance that the future buyer of the building has made certain requirements concerning the functionality or design of the building.
The same applies to lessee-controlled buildings. Here, the owner of the building (the lessor) is considered the client even though the lessee defines the requirements concerning the construction work.
If more parties at the same time and place have building and civil engineering works carried out, it is generally the originator of the project generating the other works who is the client within the meaning of the Danish Working Environment Act.
Example: In connection with the construction of a new office building, supply lines are laid along public road and across the site to the building. The supply lines are the property of the utility companies. In this case, the client of the office building is generally the client of the entire project.
2. Building and civil engineering work
Building and civil engineering work refers to work in connection with
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construction and conversion of buildings and constructions, including erection works;
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construction and conversion of roads, tunnels, bridges, ports and similar facilities;
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digging and earthworks in connection with the above;
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laying of pipes and cables;
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urban renewal or redevelopment;
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repair and maintenance works in relation to the above;
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demolition or dismantling of the above or parts hereof. 3. The client’s obligations
In general, the Danish Working Environment Act imposes four obligations on the client. Accordingly, he is under an obligation to:
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demarcate the safety measures in the common areas;
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prepare a health and safety plan for the conditions on and operation of construction sites;
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coordinate the health and safety work on the construction site;
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notify the Danish Working Environment Authority of the construction site. The obligations concerning demarcation, coordination and a health and safety plan are imposed on the client when the building and civil engineering work is of a scope or nature requiring two or more employers to employ at least 11 persons on the construction site. This applies even though the client has only entered into agreement with one turnkey contractor or one main contractor, and even though several employers are present on the construction site because the turnkey contractor or main contractor has engaged subcontractors.
When calculating the number of employers occupied on the construction site, all enterprises performing work functions on the site must be included. Besides, other enterprises, whose employees regularly perform work on the construction site, e.g. project planners or consultants, professional inspectors and possibly the client, must also be included.
When calculating the number of persons, everybody must be included. This applies to, for example, employees, supervisors and foremen. Also the employer in a privately owned contractor’s firm must be included.
During the construction period, the client should continuously keep himself informed of the number of persons employed and the number of employers on the construction site. In the invitation to tender, the client should stipulate that he is to be continuously informed of the subcontractors engaged and the number of persons at any time employed by each of the enterprises present on the construction site.
A special lower limit applies to the notification requirement (see item 8).
The client must also help to ensure that complying with the occupational health and safety legislation is possible during the construction. Therefore, the client may neither directly nor indirectly obstruct the contractors’ possibilities of ensuring that work can be carried out safely, e.g. by stating that hazardous materials must be used, that the various works are to be carried out in an unsafe order, or that another unsafe method is to be used for the performance of the work.
4. The client’s responsibilities
According to the Danish Working Environment Act, the client can no longer assign his responsibilities to someone else. This means that the client is now solely responsible for ensuring that the obligations imposed on the client in pursuance of the occupational health and safety legislation are complied with based on the contents and quality laid down in the rules.
In future, the Danish Working Environment Authority will react directly towards the client if contravention of one or more of the requirements imposed on the client is demonstrated.
The client may still engage other persons or enterprises to carry out the tasks laid down in accordance with the client responsibility. The client is actually under an obligation to appoint others to carry out the coordination work if he does not himself possess the qualifications required or has a competent person for the task at his disposal. However, the client is responsible towards the Danish Working Environment Authority for the satisfactory performance of the work tasks.
5. Demarcation of the safety measures in the common areas
Before initiating building and civil engineering works, the client must, on the basis of the specific project material, identify the areas on the construction site where circulation will take place and where work will be performed by several employers and their employees, i.e. the so-called common areas. Examples of common areas include:
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Circulation and access routes
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Areas for storage of various materials
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Areas for storage of waste
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Work platforms
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Runways
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Scaffolding
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Site huts
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Specific work areas where several enterprises are to perform work simultaneously. The client must then make arrangements with the individual contractors as to who will establish, maintain and remove the safety measures in the common areas.
Examples of safety measures in the common areas include:
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Safeguards at flights of stairs and concrete edges
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Covering of recesses and holes in decks, etc.
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Scaffolding in order to prevent persons from falling when working at heights
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Winter cover of raw houses and scaffolding
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Safe access routes outside and inside buildings
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Drainage of outdoor circulation areas
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Orientation lighting in indoor and outdoor circulation areas, including supply of power to these
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Supply of installations for site huts
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Waste handling. Besides, the client must make arrangements with a contractor to the effect that this contractor will be responsible for snow clearing and sanding of the common areas if work is performed on the construction site during winter.
The client cannot fulfil his obligation concerning demarcation of the safety measures in the common areas by stating in the common conditions of the tender documents that each contractor will be responsible for his own safety measures.
The demarcation of the safety measures in the common areas should take place already in the tender documents so that the expenses for these safety measures are included in the contract price. The tender documents and the contracts in general should indicate the periods during which the responsibility concerning the safety measures rests with the individual contractor.
The common safety measures for which each contractor is responsible must subsequently appear from the health and safety plan for the conditions on and operation of construction sites.
The client must provide the demarcation and make the arrangements necessary for this irrespective of the contract form, i.e. also if the construction is put out to tender as a turnkey or main contract.
If this demarcation is proved to be insufficient as the construction progresses, further demarcation must be provided.
6. Health and safety plan
6.1. Purpose
The purpose of the health and safety plan is to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for everybody working on a construction site. The plan is used as a control tool for the entire safety work on the construction site.
6.2. Preparation of the health and safety plan
The client must prepare a written safety and health plan if two or more employers at the same time employ at least 11 persons on the construction site.
6.3. Requirements as to when the plan must be available
The health and safety plan for the conditions on and operation of construction sites must be prepared before the construction site is established. The plan must be available before the first contractor starts work. If the design and planning of the building and civil engineering work have not been completed, or if all contracts have not been entered into at this point, the plan must be prepared on the basis of the known conditions and subsequently be updated.
6.4. The plan must be accessible
The health and safety plan must be accessible to everybody on the construction site during the entire construction period. Accordingly, the plan must be kept in a central location on the construction site accessible to everybody during working hours.
The health and safety plan must be available in one document. The plan should be well arranged and clear. It may be placed in a binder collecting all pieces of information in one place, or the plan may be stored electronically on a computer accessible to everybody on the construction site.
Surveying the plan could, for example, be facilitated if the construction site drawing and the time schedule were hung on the wall in the room in which the rest of the plan or the computer are placed, e.g. the hut where safety meetings are held. Also the list of the contractors who are to establish the safety measures in the common areas could be placed there.
6.5. Preparation of the plan
In connection with the preparation of the establishment of the construction site and the preparation of the plan, the client must ensure:
Existing underground gas and district heating pipelines and underground live cables must, for example, be identified and marked to reduce the risk of being damaged due to digging work.
Old buried oil tanks and toxic waste dumps must, for example, be identified and marked. If the construction site as such is contaminated, the extent and nature of this contamination must as far as possible have been examined and marked.
Electricity, water and drainage must be provided to the site huts. It must also be ensured that power is supplied to the construction site for orientation lighting, construction hoist or construction cranes and the necessary number of sub-panels, etc.
Safe access routes to the various places of work on the construction site and safe and, if possible, one-way routes for driving traffic through the construction site and to areas for storage of various materials, etc. must be planned. If mobile cranes, lorries for transport of precast structures, lorries for transport of industrial concrete or similar vehicles with high axle load are to be used during the construction process, this must be taken into account when planning the routes for driving traffic.
It must, for example, be possible to use necessary lifting gear and erect necessary scaffolding, bracing, runways, etc.
The various areas for storage of materials must, for example, be placed appropriately in relation to the areas of the construction site where the materials are to be used and in relation to any workshop containers.
Work involving explosions, demolition and assembly of prefabricated elements should, for example, not be planned to be performed simultaneously with other tasks. Work that is so hazardous to health that the persons performing the work must use personal protective equipment, e.g. respiratory protective equipment, should also not be planned to be performed simultaneously with other tasks.
The temporary power installations of the construction site must, for example, be checked regularly.
This concerns work where special hazards may occur, e.g. in connection with very narrow spaces with extremely difficult access conditions, work under extreme temperatures or work involving risks of fire, explosion, flooding, etc.
6.6. Contents
The project specifications and the conditions at the place of work must be taken into account when the health and safety plan is to be prepared and updated.
The plan must include information that is or may be important to the common safety work on the construction site, including general information of common interest to the safety and health on the site.
In general, the contents of the plan must enable the enterprises working on the construction site to get an impression of where any safety or health problems may occur as a result of conditions on the site not under the control of the individual enterprise.
The plan must include:
- An organisation chart
Names and addresses of client, project planner, construction management, coordinator and contractors.
- A construction site drawing
The construction site drawing must be so detailed that it indicates the location/placing of:
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the hazards identified in the area with a specification of their nature;
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access, transport and escape routes;
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cranes, hoists and scaffolding;
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areas set aside for storage of materials, temporary workshops and waste containers;
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areas set aside for site huts, lavatories, etc.;
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electricity, water and sewer connections;
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alarm, fire-fighting, rescue and first aid equipment. - A time schedule
The detailed time schedule for the construction must be part of the plan. The client is responsible for the specifications of time. The client must, among other things, help to ensure that the construction works can be carried out in a safe manner within the time schedule.
The time schedule must specify when the individual contractor has tasks on the construction site and the amount of time allocated for the individual works or work phases. It must also specify in which periods work involving special hazards is to be performed.
A detailed time schedule with a realistic time frame and an appropriate work procedure is very important to an efficient construction process and accordingly to the health and safety on the construction site. Forced or unrealistic deadlines usually lead to bad working conditions for those employed on a construction site and often affect the quality of the construction.
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A specification of the circulation routes. This applies to routes for driving traffic and foot traffic.
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A specification of the areas where work is performed by several employers and their employees, i.e. the common areas (see item 5).
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A specification of the common safety measures established in the common areas. The contractor who at any time provides, maintains and removes the planned common safety measures in the common area must be identified. The contractor who will ensure order and tidiness on the construction site, including snow clearing and waste collection, must also be identified (see also item 5).
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A demarcation of the areas where work involving special hazards is performed. This may, for example, be information about where and when an enterprise performs epoxy work or dusty and noisy work. This will enable the individual enterprise to take the necessary measures to meet the impacts of such work well in advance.
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A procedure for continuous checking of installations, safety measures and any special hazards, etc. The plan is to indicate who undertakes the continuous inspection of, for example, construction site power, and the intervals for such inspections.
An instructing check-list of the contents of the health and safety plan is annexed to this WEA Guide.
6.7. Updating of the plan
The client must ensure that the coordinator continuously updates the plan. As a minimum, the plan must be updated at the transition between the most important main phases of the construction processes.
All changes to the organisation of the construction site or adjustments of the time schedule for the construction must be incorporated in the plan.
The plan may, for example, be updated at the safety meetings. However, entering changes in the minutes of the safety meetings is not enough. The changes must also appear from the actual plan.
6.8. Special conditions for large construction sites
On especially large construction sites, conditions may be of such a nature that having just one overall health and safety plan for the entire project is less expedient. This may apply to large bridge projects, construction of long road sections or construction or building of large utility plants.
The Danish Working Environment Authority will accept that the plan is, for reasons of clarity and control, divided into several separate plans if an especially large building and civil engineering project is split into several large turnkey contracts or if the construction site can be split in another logical way. Each plan must cover a logical and separate part of the project in question.
The Danish Working Environment Authority will only approve a split-up into several separate plans if overall coordination takes place. This overall coordination must comprise an overall health and safety plan, which is in accordance with the plans for the physical areas involved, and holding of common safety meetings with the coordinators involved.
7. Coordination of the health and safety work on the construction site
The client must coordinate the safety work among all the employers represented on the construction site, including any sub-contractors with whom he has not himself entered into a contract.
The client must coordinate the safety work by
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appointing a coordinator;
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ensuring that the coordinator holds common safety meetings;
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ensuring that the coordinator is in personal contact with the construction site. 7.1. Coordinator
The client must appoint a coordinator who on his behalf undertakes the coordination of the safety work on the construction site. The client must appoint a person with the qualifications necessary to undertake the coordinator function in a professionally safe way.
The coordinator appointed by the client must fulfil the following qualification requirements:
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Specialist expertise in field of the building and civil engineering, including knowledge of the participants involved in construction projects. This means that the coordinator through his own work in the sector must have knowledge of the building and civil engineering sector’s participants and the sector’s general practices as well as knowledge of the course of the construction process, etc.
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Practical experience in management of building and civil engineering work, e.g. as building manager, as project planning manager or as coordinator pursuant to the former rules.
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Necessary knowledge of health and safety issues of particular importance to the building and civil engineering sector.
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Completion of health and safety training; i.e. the special training programme which the members the safety group must complete. Safety training, i.e. the so-called “Section 9 Training Programme”, completed after 1 April 1991 complies with this requirement. The coordinator does not bear any separate responsibilities under the Danish Working Environment Act. The coordinator is to undertake the tasks resulting from the coordination obligation on behalf of the client. Accordingly, the client is responsible for ensuring that the person appointed coordinator undertakes the tasks described in the following.
The client may appoint himself, a person employed with his enterprise or a person outside his own enterprise as coordinator.
7.2. Safety meetings
The client must ensure that the coordinator holds common safety meetings on the construction site. Ordinary safety meetings must be held at least every two weeks on the construction site. These safety meetings should be forward-looking and focused on the safety measures to be implemented in the common areas in future. The meetings may, for example, be held in connection with the construction meetings.
Extraordinary safety meetings must be held in the event of a serious accident or poisoning, other serious health injuries or incidents that could have caused such an accident on the construction site. Extraordinary safety meetings are generally held as required.
The coordinator convenes the safety meetings on behalf of the client and makes sure that minutes are taken of each meeting. The coordinator convenes all employers represented or their representatives and the members of the safety groups represented on the construction site.
The minutes must, among other things, include information about the problems discussed at the meeting, the persons responsible for solving each problem, and the time when the problem according to agreement must be solved.
The minutes must be distributed to the client, all employers, safety groups and supervisors represented on the construction site and to any shop stewards on the construction site. Finally, the minutes must be sent to other persons who participated in the meeting.
The coordinator ensures that the health and safety plan is part of the basis of the discussions at the safety meetings. The client is responsible for ensuring that this takes place and that updated plans are presented and discussed at the safety meetings.
7.3. Coordination
Between the safety meetings, coordination takes place through the coordinator’s personal contact with the contractors and the members of the safety groups on the construction site.
If the coordinator or the client during the period between two safety meetings becomes aware of conditions with a significant impact on the common safety that must quickly be put in order, the coordinator must contact the contractor who is responsible for the measure in question so that this contractor can take remedial action.
7.4. Safety council
In case of large-scale building and civil engineering work with more than 100 employees for a period of at least four weeks, a safety council may be set up on the construction site. This rule applies, unless the Danish Working Environment Authority finds that the safety work on the construction site must be coordinated through ordinary safety meetings attended to by all employers and safety representatives represented on the construction site.
A safety council is composed of the coordinator, two representatives of the safety representatives of the construction site, one representative of the employers on the construction site and one representative of the supervisors on the construction site. The coordinator is chairman of the safety council.
The safety council takes over the function of and handles the tasks usually dealt with at the safety meetings.
The meetings of the safety council must be held according to the same guidelines as the safety meetings as regards convening, meeting frequency and minutes.
Besides, the safety council must meet with all the safety groups represented on the construction site at least once every three months.
8. Notification of the construction site to the Danish Working Environment Authority
The Danish Working Environment Authority must be notified of a construction site before the construction work is commenced if:
The client must notify the Danish Working Environment Authority of the construction site. The client must use a special form (Form No. B. 105), which can be ordered from the Danish Working Environment Authority.
The notification must state:
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the date of submission
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the exact location of the construction site
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the client’s/clients’ name(s) and address(es)
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the type of construction
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the project planner(s)
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the name of the safety and health coordinator
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the date when work is expected to be commenced on the construction site
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the expected duration of the work on the construction site
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the maximum number of employees expected to be occupied on the construction site
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the expected number of enterprises and independent contractors on the construction site
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the enterprises already selected. A copy of the notification must be hung up somewhere visible on the construction site. The notification could, for example, be annexed to the health and safety plan.
9. When the client is an enterprise in operation
The client may be an enterprise where construction work is to be carried out at the premises or so close to the operation area of the enterprise that the enterprise’s own employees risk being exposed to health or safety hazards from the construction activities. In this case, the client is in his capacity as an employer under an obligation to cooperate with the enterprises performing the building and civil engineering work. The same applies if the production conditions, etc. of the enterprise itself may have an impact on the health and safety of the external craftsmen working on the building and civil engineering project.
The client is in his capacity as an employer under an obligation to cooperate with the other employers on establishing safe and healthy working conditions for everybody occupied within the operation area of the client (1).
10. The client’s Internal Safety Organisation must be involved
The client may be an existing enterprise in operation constructing/converting constructions for itself. In this case, the client is in his capacity as an employer under an obligation to ensure that the enterprise’s own Internal Safety Organisation participates in the planning of the design and fitting out of the place of work in accordance with the rules on the health and safety work of the enterprises (1).
Jens Jensen
Annex 1 - Instructing check-list for the contents of the health and safety plan
Address list with the names, addresses, telephone numbers and contact persons of:
Internal Safety Organisation:
Time schedule for the phases of construction:
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Information about when each employer has tasks on the construction site and where
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Information about the number of employees involved in each task
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Information about the amount of time set aside for each job or work phase
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Information about the periods when work involving special hazards is to be performed
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Other health and safety conditions to be taken into account in the time schedule. Demarcation and coordination:
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The names of the enterprises/persons responsible for establishing, maintaining and removing the safety measures in the common areas
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The procedures for the continuous checking of installations, safety measures and special risks
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Checking and coordination of emergency and evacuation plans. Construction site drawing with arrangement and placing of:
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Existing risks in the area and the nature of these
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Points of connection to water, sewer and power
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Access and transport routes for vehicles and foot traffic
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Escape routes
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Areas for storage of materials for each contractor
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Temporary workshops, e.g. joining station, sawing table and mixing station
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Area for workshop containers
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Common crane, hoist, scaffolding, etc.
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Waste container
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Orientation lighting, light standards
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Underground installations, including existing installations
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Areas with risks where special personal protective equipment must be worn
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Alarm equipment, fire-fighting equipment, survival equipment, telephone and first aid kit. Areas where work entails special risks:
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Development of respirable dust, e.g. quartz and mineral wool dust
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Smelling requiring special ventilation
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Noise
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Radiation
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High and low temperatures. Areas where several types of work are carried out simultaneously:
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Coordination of work tasks, e.g. work on several levels
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Safeguarding against unnecessary risks from other work processes. Work in excavations, on roofs, on scaffolding, in raw houses and in open structures:
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Risk of collapse, risk of landslide and soil conditions
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Safeguards, shields and marking
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Exposures to the weather during winter, covering of raw houses, scaffolding and other open structures. Work with technical equipment:
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Appropriate crane, equipment hoist, passenger lift and scaffolding
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Requirements concerning vehicles, including space conditions
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Ventilation, including central exhaustion of dust and vapour. Work with substances and materials:
Work resulting in ergonomic load:
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Handling of heavy and large materials
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Work under narrow conditions
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Transport and unloading of materials
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Use of furniture and technical equipment requiring high/low work height and long stretches. Order and tidiness:
Work making special requirements:
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Areas where work processes entailing special risks, e.g. work requiring the use of personal protective equipment such as ear protectors and respiratory protective equipment, must as far as possible not be used as working, circulation or resting areas for others at the same time
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Work requiring special instructions, guidance or training, e.g. asbestos and epoxy
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Work requiring an emergency and evacuation plan, e.g. work in pipes
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Work with ionising radiation
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Work that must be carried out in a special order. |
