Roles and responsibility of client in terms of safety and health

The client is a person or the organisation who commissions the design and construction
of a construction project. The constructions client develops a construction project from concept
to commissioning, ensuring that the needs of the owners, customers and the community are met.
In spite of that, the client also provides the designers, advisers, or contractor with information
relevant to health and safety, such as existing drawings, surveys of the site, a description of
hazards known specifically to the client, and so on. The role of clients is not confined to health
and safety.
In the early stage of the preparation and during the design of the construction, the client
should keep the safety file available for inspection by persons involved in any subsequent
construction work. It is to ensure they know and care about their own safety in the construction
area. Besides that, the client has to appoint to planning supervisor and also the principal
contractor. The planning supervisor is to co-ordinate and manage health and safety during this
stage. One of the planning supervisors duty is to ensure that a pre-tender stage health and safety
plan is prepared before arrangements are made for the principal contractor to carry out or
manage construction work. Meanwhile, the principal contractor is then required to develop the
health and safety plan before work starts on site and keep it up to date throughout the
construction phase.

Other than that, a copy of the preliminary Safety and Health Plan should be provided to
prospective and actual PSCSs. As the client, they must ensure that any designer, adviser or
contractor engaged to do any work is professional and has adequate provision for health and
safety. Moreover, the site information needed to the design team including details of any
contamination, site hazards, underground structures or services, overhead obstructions and access
details must be provided as well as the health and safety management of the project construction
work.
From the design work of the construction that made by the designers, the client must be
checked as it consider the health and safety to the construction work or not. Not only that,
construction phase cannot be started unless there are enough and suitable welfare facilities and
also a construction phase plan in place for the safety of the workers that involve in the
construction project.

Then, the co-ordination of the client between the designers or contractors must be well
co-operate as they must work together in order to manage the construction project successfully
done. The injuries, overspending at a later stage and misunderstandings can all be kept to a
minimum the well communicate and co-operate as much as possible. One of the role of the client
is consider the timeframes required for the safe completion of the project. Instead, failing to
allow for adequate time for the design, planning and construction is likely to mean more chance
of it being unsafe or of a poor quality.
During the construction stage, the client must ensure the head contractor has prepared a
suitable health and safety plan before start to do construction work. On this stage, the principal
contractor take the responsibility to co-ordinate and manage the health and safety issues during
the construction work. Instead of that, client must satisfied that any contractors carrying out
construction work are competent and have made proper provision for health and safety such as
by seeking advice from other advisers or organisations as to the ongoing competency of people
contracted to do any of the work.
Other than that, client must provide the ongoing advice and information, if requested,
regarding the head contractors health and safety plan such as by advising them of any changes
to planned activities. In order to manage the project runs smoothly, they must ensure that the
designers, advisers and other contractors must continue to carry out their duties and co-ordinate
with others on the project such as by requesting regular written activity reports. Meanwhile, the
building programme must be allowed the sufficient time to carry out the construction phase
safely so that the construction project construct with well-built and have a great quality.

REFERENCE

Webpage

http://www.eprints.qut.edu.au/.../7b._Guide_to_Best_Practice_for_Safer_Construction_T
asks.pdf
http://www.osh.dol.govt.nz/order/catalogue/ipp/const-safety-mgmt.pdf
http://epppublications.com/Documents/10-1-1.pdf
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1532896&show=pdf
https://webapps.hsa.ie/CIRW/help.php