BUILDING contractors - and their clients - should beware new health and safety responsibilities, the city's top construction lawyers are warning.
Responsibility for the safety of construction will soon be placed on to those who commission and pay for developments - as well as those who design, manage and build them.
The new regulations are part of a campaign to slash the number of accidents on building sites. Around 4,700 major injuries, 8,200 significant injuries and 79 fatalities happen on building sites each year.
Ken Salmon of Mace & Jones, warns that from April 6, new regulations will radically change the way the Health and Safety Executive decides who is responsible for the safe procurement and management of building projects - and for accidents.
The biggest impact of the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2007 will be on companies or individuals (the clients) who commission new buildings, even if they have no direct role in the work.
Regulations
"At present if an accident happens, such as a crane toppling over on a building site, it is contractors, designers or managers who face the music.
"From this April, those who pay for the building works will be in the frame as well," said Mr Salmon.
"Many companies may mistakenly believe there is not much new in these revised regulations - but they would be wrong. Everything is different - the definition of construction, for instance, will change to include demolition and dismantling.
"And most importantly, a client will not be able to hide behind its agent if something goes wrong. If he knows or should have known of deficiencies in the procurement, design, management or construction process, he will have a duty to do something about it and be at risk if he fails."
Punishments following a conviction in the Crown Court for breaches of Health Safety & Welfare law include an unlimited fine and up to two years imprisonment.
Sean McCay, partner in the construction team at Deansgate law firm Pannone said: "Such enhanced regulation, and presumably scrutiny, is highly likely to come at a price leading to increased project costs as a consequence of, for example, the necessary legal and other professional support required to ensure the correct application and implementation of the Regs.
"Under the new regulations the end-user client has many more responsibilities which cannot be delegated, and the practice of starting work prior to full planning, resourcing and documentation could become legally as well as physically dangerous for all concerned."
The code of practice supporting the regulations can be found at
www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm.htm