If your project uses a single contractor you can defer health and safety considerations to them. But what happens if you use more than one contractor on your renovation project?
If you have decided to manage your own project or have employed a project manager it is likely that the overarching responsibility for site health and safety will fall to you.
In projects delivered with the aid of a firm of project managers this should be dealt with by them.
If you are project managing the contract alone it may be worth getting some external advice on the health and safety requirements for the site or considering the use of a project manager for its wider benefits as well as health and safety.
If your project uses a single contractor you can defer health and safety considerations to them. But what happens if you use more than one contractor on your renovation project?
It is fair to say that the building industry has come a long way in the last thirty years to improve its record. However, it is also true to say that the Health and Safety Executive, almost without exception, decides to prosecute site operators who cause serious injury or death because of their negligence.
This conviction should not be underestimated, as a breach of health and safety rules pursued by the HSE in court counts as a criminal prosecution and will thereafter have to be declared unless expired under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974).