H&S officer's right to enter house and inspect job

Bonzo Delaney

Hi all just wondering hypothetically
What rights does a health and safety officer have in relation to gaining access to a house that is having construction work carried out at . With out permission from the home owner who is still living in the house. Do they need a permit as in the guards would need a search warrant to enter a home.

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Bonzo Delaney wrote: »

Hi all just wondering hypothetically
What rights does a health and safety officer have in relation to gaining access to a house that is having construction work carried out at . With out permission from the home owner who is still living in the house. Do they need a permit as in the guards would need a search warrant to enter a home.

I’m not sure about the requirement for permission to enter .. however if they can not satisfy themselves that the site was safe (as they couldn’t gain access ) they might have cause to require construction half and the site closed

Metric Tensor

I could be corrected in this regard but I think I heard before that they can enter any construction site without permission if they believe they need to. I'm not 100% sure of that though. Incidentally was an AF2 form sent in at the start of the works?

As far as I know the EPA can do likewise if they believe something within their remit needs to be inspected!

4ensic15

They can enter any construction site but can't enter any dwelling without the permission of the occupier or a warrant from the District Court. Section 65, Health Safety & Welfare at Work Act 2005

whippet

Bonzo Delaney wrote: »

Hi all just wondering hypothetically
What rights does a health and safety officer have in relation to gaining access to a house that is having construction work carried out at . With out permission from the home owner who is still living in the house. Do they need a permit as in the guards would need a search warrant to enter a home.

Double post

godtabh

Depending on the size/lenght/man hours of the job it needs to be notified and then on that basis it can be inspected any time.

Metric Tensor

And "Number of Contractors" also - so even if the job lasts 2 hours if there is two contractors on site it needs to be notified. For example a main contractor and electrical subcontractor would count as two.

Bonzo Delaney

Whats the repercussions of not notifying the hsa there's work been carried out

Metric Tensor

I assume prosecution of the PSCS is the long term consequence and the PSCS leaving themselves open to serious questions if an incident occurs on a project that should have been notified.

Also - to answer, what I expect might be the next question:

"What if there is no PSCS?"

The Client, Contractor and possibly the Designer (and or PSDP) are all leaving themselves open to prosecution. If the client is not a professional then the Contractor and Designer also have certain obligations with regards to notifying the client of their duties with regards to appointing a PSDP and a PSCS.

The rules are very specific and codified - v. important, in my opinion, for all construction professionals to follow them as closely as possible for their own protection.

There are firms out there that specialise in assisting contractors meet all their duties if the contractor doesn't want to do them him/herself (i.e. if the main contractor does not want to follow the more usual practice of acting as PSCS themselves). There are also many firms doing the same thing on the design side for designers.