The Construction Regulations (2014) effective from FEBRUARY 2014, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (No 85 of 1993/Act) state that:
If a worker is injured on site the owner, property manager and the contractor could be held individually or jointly criminally and / or civilly liable for failure to comply with the legislation.
If you are already undertaking, or are going to undertake maintenance, alterations, extensions, building or demolition work on one of your buildings then the Construction Regulations (2014) effective from 02/14, under the OHSA (No 85 of 1993/Act) will apply to YOU. The intention of this legislation is to help reduce accidents, injuries and ill health affecting maintenance and construction workers on site – an objective we all support.
The Construction Regulations (2014) apply to all commercial, multi-storey residential and sectional title unit property owners. All property owners are now specifically bound by this legislation.
All property owners must meet basic health and safety duties and responsibilities. The regulations specify that property owners must appoint only qualified and competent contractors to perform the work safely and must provide anyone working on the premises with, amongst other things;
The Department of Labour is determined to make sure that maintenance and construction workers are better protected on construction sites and intends to enforce the Act and legislation vigorously. Even if compliant, all parties can still be taken to court in the event of a death or injury on site – and owners and managers need protection from this.