Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
a new building; building services designers or others designing plant which forms
part of the permanent structure (including lifts, heating, ventilation and electrical
systems); those purchasing materials where the choice has been left open; tempo-
rary works engineers; interior designers, including shop fitters who also develop the
design, heritage organizations who specify how work is to be done in detail; and those
determining how buildings and structures are altered.
The first point to make is that, by virtue of regulation 4(1)(b), a designer shall not
accept an appointment as such unless he is competent. Once the designer is satisfied
that he is able to do the job, he still cannot commence work in relation to a project
unless any client for the project is aware of his duties under the 2007 Regulations.
Once the designer starts designing (or modifying a design) he has to avoid foresee-
able risk to the health and safety of persons in five defined categories, namely, those:
1. carrying out construction work;
2. liable to be affected by construction work;
3. cleaning any window or any transparent or translucent wall, ceiling or roof in
or on a structure;
4. maintaining the permanent fixtures and fittings of a structure; or
5. using a structure designed as a workplace.
In preparing the design, the designer shall eliminate hazards which may give rise
to risks; and reduce risks from any remaining hazards, and in doing so shall give
collective measures priority over individual measures. In preparing the design, the
designer is obliged to take all reasonable steps to provide with it sufficient informa-
tion about aspects of the design of the structure or its construction or maintenance
as will adequately assist clients, other designers and contractors to comply with their
duties under the 2007 Regulations.
20.4.8 Designs prepared or modified outside Great Britain
As the 2007 Regulations apply to Great Britain, the possibility of the design being
prepared or modified somewhere else is dealt with by regulation 12. In those circum-
stances, the party who commissions the design, if they are established within Great
Britain, or if they are not so established, any client for the project, is required to ensure
that regulation 11 (duties of designers) is complied with.
20.4.9 Duties of contractors
Contractors are those who actually do the construction work and are, thus, those most
at risk of injury and ill-health. Anyone who directly employs or engages construction
workers or controls or manages construction work is a contractor for the purposes
