Duties of contractors
15.—(1) A contractor must not carry out construction work in relation to a project unless satisfied that the client is aware of the duties owed by the client under these Regulations.
(2) A contractor must plan, manage and monitor construction work carried out either by the contractor or by workers under the contractor’s control, to ensure that, so far as is reasonably practicable, it is carried out without risks to health and safety.
(3) Where there is more than one contractor working on a project, a contractor must comply with—
(a)any directions given by the principal designer or the principal contractor; and
(b)the parts of the construction phase plan that are relevant to that contractor’s work on the project.
(4) If there is only one contractor working on the project, the contractor must take account of the general principles of prevention when—
(a)design, technical and organisational aspects are being decided in order to plan the various items or stages of work which are to take place simultaneously or in succession; and
(b)estimating the period of time required to complete the work or work stages.
(5) If there is only one contractor working on the project, the contractor must draw up a construction phase plan, or make arrangements for a construction phase plan to be drawn up, as soon as is practicable prior to setting up a construction site.
(6) The construction phase plan must fulfil the requirements of regulation 12(2).
(7) A contractor must not employ or appoint a person to work on a construction site unless that person has, or is in the process of obtaining, the necessary skills, knowledge, training and experience to carry out the tasks allocated to that person in a manner that secures the health and safety of any person working on the construction site.
(8) A contractor must provide each worker under their control with appropriate supervision, instructions and information so that construction work can be carried out, so far as is reasonably practicable, without risks to health and safety.
(9) The information provided must include—
(a)a suitable site induction, where not already provided by the principal contractor;
(b)the procedures to be followed in the event of serious and imminent danger to health and safety;
(c)information on risks to health and safety—
(i)identified by the risk assessment under regulation 3 of the Management Regulations; or
(ii)arising out of the conduct of another contractor’s undertaking and of which the contractor in control of the worker ought reasonably to be aware; and
(d)any other information necessary to enable the worker to comply with the relevant statutory provisions.
(10) A contractor must not begin work on a construction site unless reasonable steps have been taken to prevent access by unauthorised persons to that site.
(11) A contractor must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the requirements of Schedule 2 are complied with so far as they affect the contractor or any worker under that contractor’s control.