Temporary and mobile work sites

SUMMARY OF:

Directive 92/57/EEC — minimum safety and health requirements at temporary or mobile construction sites

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE DIRECTIVE?

It aims to promote better working conditions on construction sites where workers can be exposed to particularly high risks.
It requires:
- safety and health considerations to be taken on board during the design and organisation of projects;
- a chain of responsibility to be set up, linking all the people involved, in order to prevent any risks.
It is the eighth individual directive within the meaning of Framework Directive 89/391/EEC, which introduces general rules to encourage improvements in the health and safety of workers at work.

KEY POINTS

Scope

The directive applies to temporary or mobile construction sites* in all sectors of activity, whether public and private, including industrial, agricultural, commercial, administrative, service, educational, cultural and leisure sectors.

It does not apply to drilling and extraction in extractive industries.

Safety and health plan

The client* or the project supervisor* must:

appoint one or more coordinators for safety and health matters for any construction site on which more than one contractor is present. This coordinator ensures that a safety and health plan is drawn up before setting up a site;
communicate a prior notice (drawn up in accordance with the directive’s Annex III) for 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.

Preparation of the project

The client or project supervisor must apply the general prevention principles of Directive 89/391/EEC and the safety plan in the course of:

the work site project preparation stage;
architectural and organisational choices taken;
the various phases of work.

Coordinators must:

ensure that the general prevention principles are implemented;
draw up a safety and health plan;
prepare a file containing relevant safety and health information to be taken into account during any subsequent works.

Project implementation

During implementation, coordinators must:

ensure that employers and self-employed persons* apply the relevant principles of prevention and follow the safety and health plan where this is required;
organise cooperation between employers with respect to safety and health matters;
check that the working procedures are being implemented correctly;
take the necessary steps to ensure that only authorised persons are allowed on the construction site.

Responsibilities of clients, project supervisors and employers

Even where a coordinator has been appointed, the client or project supervisor still has responsibilities with respect to safety and health matters:

employers must comply with the minimum safety and health requirements applicable to sites, as set out in Annex IV (aspects such as energy distribution installations, emergency routes and exits, ventilation, temperature, traffic routes, sanitary equipment, etc.). They must also take into account directions from the coordinator for safety and health matters;
self-employed persons must comply with the safety requirements, specifically concerning the use of work equipment and personal protection.

Worker information, consultation and participation

In accordance with Directive 89/391/EEC, workers and/or their representatives must be:

informed in a comprehensible manner of all the measures taken for their safety and health on the site;
consulted on matters covered by this directive whenever necessary.

Amending directive

Directive 2007/30/EC simplified the requirements on reporting to the European Commission concerning the implementation of Directive 89/391/EEC and its various individual directives. EU countries now have to prepare a single report every 5 years covering the implementation of all of these directives.

A study of the implementation of the directive was published in 2017.

FROM WHEN DOES THE DIRECTIVE APPLY?

It has applied since 17 July 1992 and had to become law in EU countries by 31 December 1993.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

Directive 92/57/EEC — temporary or mobile construction sites (European Agency for Safety and Health at Work).

KEY TERMS

Temporary or mobile construction sites: any construction site at which building or civil engineering works are carried out (a non-exhaustive list is given in the directive’s Annex I).

Client: any individual or legal entity for whom a project is carried out.

Project supervisor: any individual or legal entity responsible for designing and/or implementing and/or supervising the implementation of a project, acting on behalf of the client.

Self-employed person: any person other than the employee or employer, whose professional activity contributes to the completion of a project.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Council Directive 92/57/EEC of 24 June 1992 on the implementation of minimum safety and health requirements at temporary or mobile construction sites (eighth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16 (1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) (OJ L 245, 26.8.1992, pp. 6-22)

Successive amendments to Directive 92/57/EEC have been incorporated in the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.