Here we go again, you say your going to use staff on a one off basis, if more than five of them you actually need by law, a wrtitten Health & Safety Policy, NOT JUST A WRITTEN HEALTH & SAFETY POLICY STATEMENT.
Or, of course, you could subcontract the labour, thereby making themselves responsible, for Health & Safety, but not quite sure how the building contractor would react about that
Martin, is quite correct, the builder should have made sure that you supplied him with the relevant documents etc, before awarding you the contract, but he probably picked you on price, no real surprise there! But, and heres the thing, he, and you have a legal duty, to show due care, it is the law! You or he, do not have the right to ignore this. legally, or in my opinion, morally.
If anything were to happen, and let me tell you that building sites, by their very nature, are very dangerous places, your insurance company probably wouldnt cover you, why, because you have broken your contract with them, you have wilfully, ignored the law, the law has and still is going through many changes, the penaltlies are getting stiffer, it is only 3 or 4 years away, before we see the first conviction for corporate manslaughter in this country, and it is also very very easy to sue under both employment and Health & Safety legislation.
Martin, again is quite correct, your H & S documents, should be site specific, indeed, if anything were to go awry, this would actually help you, as you have tried to cover all the basis.
As for help, get down to your local H & S office, pronto, or at least go to the website, bone up on it quick, get the book, I think its called H & S in the constuction industry, get the leaflets, fill in the forms from the builder, probably lose a little money on the deal, if not actually cash, certainly profit, and get some real training and professional advice as soon as the job is done.
No one has the right to place their staff in harms way, and yet every single year, someones father/mother does not come home, this is a fact, and all because, someone, somewhere allowed it to happen on their watch they failed in their duty to train, protect and inform their staff, because they didnt know, or wouldnt pay, or failed to comply with the law.
You could be forgiven for thinking that i am putting you down, or trying to stop you from acheiving your dreams, i am not. But so may people start out in this game thinking, that its a poorly paid, low investment, easy business, it is far from easy, the industry suffers, because of this perception, which is held by both many so called contractors and indeed clients, until we all realise that we all have to follow the same rules, nothing will change, best of luck on this one Jonny, but please, get this one out of the way, and get trained or get someone in to do it for you, accidents will always happen, but i wouldnt want to face somones family when i pleaded ignorance or poverty as one of the reasons for their loved one not coming home or being injured.
The above, is not meant to offend or upset, it does not represent the views of CMCCS, the views expressed are entirely my own.
Regards,
Rob