COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 92/57/EEC
of 24 June 1992
on the implementation of minimum safety and health requirements at temporary or mobile constructions sites (eighth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 118a thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1), submitted after consulting the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work,
In cooperation with the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3),
Whereas Article 118 a of the Treaty provides that the Council shall adopt, by means of directives, minimum requirements for encouraging improvements, especially in the working environment, to ensure a better level of protection of the safety and health of workers;
Whereas, under the terms of that Article, those directives are to avoid imposing administrative, financial and legal constraints in a way which would hold back the creation and development of small and medium-sized undertakings;
Whereas the communication from the Commission on its programme concerning safety, hygiene and health at work (4) provides for the adoption of a Directive designed to guarantee the safety and health of workers at temporary or mobile construction sites;
Whereas, in its resolution of 21 December 1987 on safety, hygiene and health at work (5), the Council took note of the Commission's intention of submitting to the Council in the near future minimum requirements concerning temporary or mobile construction sites;
Whereas temporary or mobile construction sites constitute an area of activity that exposes workers to particularly high levels of risk;
Whereas unsatisfactory architectural and /or organizational options or poor planning of the works at the project preparation stage have played a role in more than half of the occupational accidents occurring on construction sites in the Community;
Whereas in each Member State the authorities responsible for safety and health at work must be informed, before the beginning of the works, of the execution of works the scale of which exceeds a certain threshold;
Whereas, when a project is being carried out, a large number of occupational accidents may be caused by inadequate coordination, particularly where various undertakings work simultaneously or in succession at the same temporary or mobile construction site;
Whereas it is therefore necessary to improve coordination between the various parties concerned at the project preparation stage and also when the work is being carried out;
Whereas compliance with the minimum requirements designed to guarantee a better standard of safety and health at temporary or mobile construction sites is essential to ensure the safety and health of workers;
Whereas, moreover, self-employed persons and employers, where they are personally engaged in work activity, may, through their activities on a temporary or mobile construction site, jeopardize the safety and health of workers;
Whereas it is therefore necessary to extend to self-employed persons and to employers where they are personally engaged in work activity on the site certain relevant provisions of Council Directive 89/655/EEC of 30 November 1989 concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment by workers at work (second individual Directive) (6), and of Council Directive 89/656/EEC of 30 November 1989 on the minimum health and safety requirements for the use by workers of personal protective equipment at the workplace (third individual Directive) (7);
Whereas this Directive is an individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Council Directive 89/391 /EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work (8); whereas, therefore, the provisions of the said Directive are fully applicable to temporary or mobile construction sites, without prejudice to more stringent and/or specific provisions contained in this Directive;
Whereas this Directive constitutes a practical step towards the achievement of the social dimension of the internal market with special reference to the subject matter of Council Directive 89/106/EEC of 21 December 1988 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to construction products (9) and the subject matter covered by Council Directive 89/440/EEC of 18 July 1989 amending Directive 71/305/EEC concerning coordination of procedures for the award of public work contracts (10);
Whereas, pursuant to Council Decision 74/325/EEC (11), the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work is consulted by the Commission with a view to drawing up proposals in this field,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Article 1
Subject
1. This Directive, which is the eighth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC, lays down minimum safety and health requirements for temporary or mobile construction sites, as defined in Article 2 (a).
2. This Directive shall not apply to drilling and extraction in the extractive industries within the meaning of Article 1 (2) of Council Decision 74/326/EEC of 27 June 1974 on the extension of the responsibilities of the Mines Safety and Health Commission to all mineral-extracting industries (12).
3. The provisions of Directive 89/391/EEC are fully applicable to the whole scope referred to in paragraph 1, without prejudice to more stringent and/or specific provisions contained in this Directive.
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Directive:
(a)
‘temporary or mobile construction sites’ (hereinafter referred to as ‘construction sites’) means any construction site at which building or civil engineering works are carried out; a non-exhaustive list of such works is given in Annex I;
(b)
‘client’ means any natural or legal person for whom a project is carried out;
(c)
‘project supervisor’ means any natural or legal person responsible for the design and /or execution and /or supervision of the execution of a project, acting on behalf of the client;
(d)
‘self-employed person’ means any person other than those referred to in Article 3 (a) and (b) of Directive 89/391 /EEC whose professional activity contributes to the completion of a project;
(e)
‘coordinator for safety and health matters at the project preparations stage’ means any natural or legal person entrusted by the client and /or project supervisor, during preparation of the project design, with performing the duties referred to in Article 5;
(f)
‘coordinator for safety and health matters at the project execution stage’ means any natural or legal person entrusted by the client and /or project supervisor, during execution of the project, with performing the duties referred to in Article 6.
Article 3
Appointment of coordinators - Safety and health plan - Prior notice
1. The client or the project supervisor shall appoint one or more coordinators for safety and health matters, as defined in Article 2 (e) and (f), for any construction site on which more than one contractor is present.
2. The client or the project supervisor shall ensure that prior to the setting up of a construction site a safety and health plan is drawn up in accordance with Article 5 (b).
The Member States may, after consulting both management and the workforce, allow derogations from the provisions of the first paragraph, except where the work concerned involves particular risks as listed in Annex II.
3. In the case of constructions sites:
-
on which work is scheduled to last longer than 30 working days and on which more than 20 workers are occupied simultaneously, or
-
on which the volume of work is scheduled to exceed 500 person-days,
the client or the project supervisor shall communicate a prior notice drawn up in accordance with Annex III to the competent authorities before work starts.
-
The prior notice must be clearly displayed on the construction site and, if necessary, periodically updated.
Article 4
Project preparation stage: general principles
The project supervisor, or where appropriate the client, shall take account of the general principles of prevention concerning safety and health referred to in Directive 89/391/EEC during the various stages of designing and preparing the project, in particular:
-
when architectural, technical and/or organizational aspects are being decided, in order to plan the various items or stages of work which are to take place simultaneously or in succession,
-
when estimating the period required for completing such work or work stages. Account shall also be taken, each time this appears necessary, of all safety and health plans and of files drawn up in accordance with Article 5 (b) or (c) or adjusted in accordance with Article 6 (c).
Article 5
Project preparation stage: duties of coordinators
The coordinator(s) for safety and health matters during the project preparation stage appointed in accordance with Article 3 (1) shall:
(a)
coordinate implementation of the provisions of Article 4;
(b)
draw up, or cause to be draw up, a safety and health plan setting out the rules applicable to the construction site concerned, taking into account where necessary the industrial activities taking place on the site; this plan must also include specific measures concerning work which falls within one or more of the categories of Annex II;
(c)
prepare a file appropriate to the characteristics of the project containing relevant safety and health information to be taken into account during any subsequent works.
Article 6
Project execution stage: duties of coordinators
The coordinator(s) for safety and health matters during the project execution stage appointed in accordance with Article 3 (1) shall:
(a)
coordinate implementation of the general principles of prevention and safety:
-
when technical and/or organizational aspects are being decided, in order to plan the various items or stages of work which are to take place simultaneously or in succession,
-
when estimating the period required for completing such work or work stages;
(b)
coordinate implementation of the relevant provisions in order to ensure that employers and, if necessary for the protection of workers, self-employed persons:
-
apply the principles referred to in Article 8 in a consistent manner,
-
where required, follow the safety and health plan referred to in Article 5 (b);
(c)
make, or cause to be made, any adjustments required to the safety and health plan referred to in Article 5 (b) and the file referred to in Article 5 (c) to take account of the progress of the work and any changes which have occurred;
(d)
organize cooperation between employers, including successive employers on the same site, coordination of their activities with a view to protecting workers and preventing accidents and occupational health hazards and reciprocal information as provided for in Article 6 (4) of Directive 89/391/EEC, ensuring that self-employed persons are brought into this process where necessary;
(e)
coordinate arrangements to check that the working procedures are being implemented correclty;
(f)
take the steps necessary to ensure that only authorized person are allowed onto the construction site.
Article 7
Responsibilities of clients, project supervisors and employers
1. Where a client or project supervisor has appointed a coordinator or coordinators to perform the duties referred to in Articles 5 and 6, this does not relieve the client or project supervisor of his responsibilities in that respect.
2. The implementation of Articles 5 and 6, and of paragraph 1 of this Article shall not affect the principle of employers' responsibility as provided for in Directive 89/391/EEC.
Article 8
Implementation of Article 6 of Directive 89/391/EEC
When the work is being carried out, the principles set out in Article 6 of Directive 89/391/EEC shall be applied, in particular as regards:
(a)
keeping the construction site in good order and in a satisfactory state of cleanliness;
(b)
choosing the location of workstations bearing in mind how access to these workplaces is obtained, and determining routes or areas for the passage and movement and equiment;
(c)
the conditions under which various materials are handled;
(d)
technical maintenance, pre-commissioning checks and regular checks on installations and equipment with a view to correcting any faults which might affect the safety and health of workers;
(e)
the demarcation and laying-out of areas for the storage of various materials, in particular where dangerous materials or substances are concerned;
(f)
the conditions under which the dangerous materials used are removed;
(g)
the storage and disposal or removal of waste and debris;
(h)
the adaptation, based on progress made with the site, of the actual period to be allocated for the various types of work or work stages;
(i)
cooperation between employers and self-employed persons;
(j)
interaction with industrial activities at the place within which or in the vicinity of which the construction site is located.
Article 9
Obligations of employers
In order to preserve safety and health on the construction site, under the conditions set out in Article 6 and 7, employers shall:
(a)
in particular when implementing Article 8, take measures that are in line with the minimum requirements set out in Annex IV;
(b)
take into account directions from the coordinator(s) for safety and health matters.
Article 10
Obligations of other groups of persons
1. In order to preserve safety and health on the construction site, self-employed persons shall:
(a)
comply in particular with the following, mutatis mutandis:
(i)
the requirements of Article 6 (4) and Article 13 of Directive 89/391/EEC and Article 8 and Annex IV of this Directive;
(ii)
Article 4 of Directive 89/655/EEC and the relevant provisions of the Annex thereto;
(iii)
Article 3, Article 4 (1) to (4) and (9) and Article 5 of Directive 89/656/EEC;
(b)
take into account directions from the coordinator(s) for safety and health matters.
2. In order to preserve safety and health on the site, where employers are personally engaged in work activity on the construction site, they shall:
(a)
comply in particular with the following, mutatis mutandis:
(i)
Article 13 of Directive 89/391/EEC;
(ii)
Article 4 of Directive 89/655/EEC and the relevant provisions of the Annex thereto;
(iii)
Articles 3,4(1), (2), (3), (4), (9) and 5 of Directive 89/656/EEC;
(b)
take account of the comments of the coordinator(s) for safety and health.
Article 11
Information for workers
1. Whitout prejudice to Article 10 of Directive 89/391/EEC, workers and/or their representatives shall be informed of all the measures to be taken concerning their safety and health on the construction site.
2. The information must be comprehensible to the workers concerned.
Article 12
Consultation and participation of workers
Consultation and participation of workers and /or of their representatives shall take place in accordance with Article 11 of Directive 89/391/EEC on matters covered by Articles 6, 8 and 9 of this Directive, ensuring whenever necessary proper coordination between workers and/or workers' representatives in undertakings carrying out their activities at the workplace, having regard to the degree of risk and the size of the work site.
Article 13
Amendment of the Annexes
1. Amendments to Annexes I, II and III shall be adopted by the Council in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 118a of the Treaty.
2. Strictly technical adaptations of Annex IV as a result of:
-
the adoption of directives on technical harmonization and standardization regarding temporary or mobile construction sites, and/or
-
technical progress, changes in international regulations or specifications or knowledge in the field of temporary or mobile construction sites
shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 17 of Directive 89/391/EEC.
Article 14
Final provisions
1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 31 December 1993 at the latest.
They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.
2. When Member States adopt these measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such a reference shall be laid down by the Member States.
3. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the texts of the provisions of national law which they have already adopted or adopt in the field governed by this Directive.
4. Member States shall report to the Commission every four years on the practical implementation of the provisions of this Directive, indicating the points of view of employers and workers.
The Commission shall inform the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work.
5. The Commission shall submit periodically to the European Parliament, the Council and the Economic and Social Committee a report on the implementation of this Directive, taking into account paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Article 15
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Luxembourg, 24 June 1992.