Legal Duties of the Client in a Project
Legal duties of the client
The ‘client is an organization or individual for whom a construction project is carried out’ (HSE publication L144, 2007:13). In this case, the Wembley stadium is owned by an English football’s governing body, The Football Association (The FA), specifically by their subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WNSL).
It may be thought that clients don’t have to involve in the health and safety duties as designers, workers or contractors do. However, this is not the case. Clients have to take part in these duties as much as the rest of the participants in the project. As a client, WNSL had a big influence over how the work was done. Nevertheless it must be said that the client does not have to conduct detailed checks of the safety during the construction. This is the duty of the contractor and/or the designer. Clients have to verify that the initial project management arrangements are maintained.
It is known that there were some health and safety problems: in March 2006, a temporary roof support fell resulting in the evacuation of the workers and delay of work. The client is not directly responsible of this accident, but it is in his hands to provide a good health and safety plan (designbuild-network.com)
The built of the Wembley Stadium was a large project that lasted more than 30 days. Thus, it was notified under CDM 2007 (Construction Design and Management), what involves some more legal duties to take into account.
Knowing all this information, the main duties of WNSL as a client were: 1. Mark Pole et al state in Industry Guidance for Clients (2007:16) the importance of verifying the competence of the architect (Norman Foster), contractors (Multiplex) and other members that are involved in the project, (i.e. consultants, steel construction…). Participants have to be ‘adequately resourced and appointed early enough for the work they have to do’ (HSE publication L144, 2007:16)
2. Provide information in advance
The ‘client is an organization or individual for whom a construction project is carried out’ (HSE publication L144, 2007:13). In this case, the Wembley stadium is owned by an English football’s governing body, The Football Association (The FA), specifically by their subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WNSL).
It may be thought that clients don’t have to involve in the health and safety duties as designers, workers or contractors do. However, this is not the case. Clients have to take part in these duties as much as the rest of the participants in the project. As a client, WNSL had a big influence over how the work was done. Nevertheless it must be said that the client does not have to conduct detailed checks of the safety during the construction. This is the duty of the contractor and/or the designer. Clients have to verify that the initial project management arrangements are maintained.
It is known that there were some health and safety problems: in March 2006, a temporary roof support fell resulting in the evacuation of the workers and delay of work. The client is not directly responsible of this accident, but it is in his hands to provide a good health and safety plan (designbuild-network.com)
The built of the Wembley Stadium was a large project that lasted more than 30 days. Thus, it was notified under CDM 2007 (Construction Design and Management), what involves some more legal duties to take into account.
Knowing all this information, the main duties of WNSL as a client were: 1. Mark Pole et al state in Industry Guidance for Clients (2007:16) the importance of verifying the competence of the architect (Norman Foster), contractors (Multiplex) and other members that are involved in the project, (i.e. consultants, steel construction…). Participants have to be ‘adequately resourced and appointed early enough for the work they have to do’ (HSE publication L144, 2007:16)
2. Provide information in advance
References: ConstructionSkills (2007) The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, Industry guidance for small, one-off and infrequent clients, [Online], Available: http://www.cskills.org/uploads/CDM_Clients4web_tcm17-4640.pdf [4 March 2013] Designbuild-network.com, [Online], Available: http://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/wembley/ [4 March 2013] Health and Safety Executive (2007) Want construction work done safely? A quick guide for clients on the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, [Online], Available: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg411.pdf [4 March 2013] Health and Safety Executive (2007) Managing health and safety in construction, Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 Approved Code of Practice, [Online], Available: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l144.pdf [4 March 2013] Hse.gov.uk, [Online], Available: http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm/clients.htm [4 March 2013] Hse.gov.uk, [Online], Available: http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm/faq/clients.htm [4 March 2013] The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 No.320, [Online], Available: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/320/pdfs/uksi_20070320_en.pdf [4 March 2013]