Article
Safety in Design and at Construction Sites
Section 39 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 puts a duty on designers, and it shows up on the drawing set.
Safety in design
Section 39 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 specifically targets designers. We must ‘design out’ hazards or advise others of the remaining hazards that may be present during construction, operation, maintenance or demolition of the items we design. We typically identify these hazards that would not be obvious to an experienced contractor/operator, as notes on drawings or as a list of residual risks.
Where a WorkSafe investigation follows a site incident, the question of which party held responsibility for a specific piece of temporary work is rarely clear-cut. Under HSWA every party with influence over the site carries a duty to make it safe to work at, and that duty is not discharged by assuming someone else holds it.
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