Security and Health

According to Royal Decree 1627/97, ​​when “more than one company, or a company and self-employed workers or various self-employed workers, intervene in the execution of a work, the promoter, before the start of work, will designate a safety coordinator and health during the execution of the work ”. RD 1627/97 also stresses that the appointment of the Safety and Health Coordinator is an exclusive obligation of the figure of the promoter, in order to guarantee their independence with respect to the different contractors and subcontractors that may participate in the execution of the works. It should be noted that the obligation to appoint a safety and health coordinator during the execution of the work is independent of the fact that the various contractors, subcontractors or self-employed workers have a simultaneous or successive presence on the work. Article 3.2 of RD 1627/1997 states that when more than one company, or a company and self-employed workers, or various self-employed workers, the developer, intervenes in the execution of a work, before the start of the work or as soon as it is verified said circumstance, will designate a coordinator in matters of safety and health during the execution of the work. According to the Fourth Additional Provision of Law 38/199, the figure of the safety and health coordinator (CSS) in building works may only be exercised by a competent technician: architect, technical architect, engineer or technical engineer, in accordance with their skills and specialties; and must be designated by the promoter of the work. The safety and health coordinator must be appointed before the start of work and will be in charge of approving the safety and health plan, among other tasks. Below are its obligations under RD 1627/1997:

• Coordinate in the execution phase the application of the general principles of prevention and safety when making technical and organizational decisions in order to plan the different jobs or work phases that will be carried out simultaneously or successively, as well as estimating the required duration for the execution of these different works or phases of work.

• Coordinate the activities of the work to ensure that contractors and, where appropriate, subcontractors and self-employed workers consistently and responsibly apply the principles of preventive action (art. 15 PRL Law).

• Approve the Safety and Health Plan prepared by the contractor and, where appropriate, the modifications introduced in it. In the case of works by Public Administrations, the Plan, with the corresponding report from the coordinator in matters of safety and health during the execution of the work, will be submitted for approval to the Public Administration that has awarded the work. When the designation of coordinator is not necessary, the above functions will be assumed by the optional management.

• Organize the coordination of business activities provided in art. 24 of the LPRL, later developed by RD 171/2004.

• Keep the Incident Book in your possession and at work. When the designation of coordinator in matters of safety and health in the execution phase is not necessary, the Incident Book will be in the possession of the medical management.

• Once an entry has been made in the Incident Book, the coordinator in matters of safety and health in the execution phase or, when the appointment of the latter is not necessary, the facultative management, must notify the affected contractor and its workers’ representatives.

• In the event that the annotation made in the Incident Book refers to any breach of warnings or observations previously noted, the coordinator in matters of safety and health in the execution phase or, when the appointment of this is not necessary, the management Optional, you must send a copy to the Labor and Social Security Inspection within 24 hours.
• When the coordinator in matters of safety and health in the execution phase or any person integrated in the optional management observes non-compliance with the safety and health measures, he shall notify the contractor of this, recording the non-compliance in the Incident Book and being empowered to , in breaches that pose serious and imminent risk to the safety and health of workers, order the stoppage of pits or, where appropriate, the entire work.

• In the above assumption, the person who ordered the stoppage must give an account within 24 hours to the Labor and Social Security Inspection, as well as to the contractors and, where appropriate, to the subcontractors affected by the stoppage, as well as the representatives of the workers of these.

According to article 4 of RD 1627/1997, the developer will be obliged to carry out a safety and health study (ESS) in the project drafting phase in the works projects in which any of the following assumptions occur:

• That the contract execution budget included in the project is equal to or greater than 75 million pesetas.
• That the estimated duration is greater than 30 working days, employing more than 20 workers at the same time at some point.
• That the estimated volume of labor, understanding the sum of the working days of the total number of workers on the site, is greater than 500.
• The works of tunnels, galleries, underground pipes and dams.

In the projects of works not included in any of the assumptions foreseen in the previous section, the developer will be obliged to carry out a basic study of safety and health (EBSS) in the drafting phase of the project.

When more than one designer is expected to participate in a construction project of any kind, the developer must appoint a safety and health coordinator in the drafting phase, who will be responsible for writing the safety and health study in construction.

It is a technical document that must be prepared by a competent technician and will contain, as a minimum, the following documents:

Descriptive report of the procedures, technical equipment and auxiliary means to be used or whose use can be expected; identification of the occupational risks that can be avoided, indicating for this purpose the technical measures necessary for it; list of occupational risks that cannot be eliminated in accordance with the aforementioned, specifying preventive measures and technical protections aimed at controlling and reducing said risks and evaluating their effectiveness, especially when alternative measures are proposed.Likewise, it will include the description of the health and common services that the work center of the work must be equipped with, depending on the number of workers who are going to use them. In the preparation of the report, the conditions of the environment in which the work is carried out must be taken into account, as well as the typology and characteristics of the materials and elements to be used, determination of the construction process and order of execution of the works.

1. Specification of particular conditions in which the legal and regulatory standards applicable to the technical specifications of the work in question will be taken into account, as well as the prescriptions that must be met in relation to the characteristics, use and conservation of preventive machines, tools, tools, systems and equipment.
2. Plans in which the necessary graphics and diagrams will be developed for the best definition and understanding of the preventive measures defined in the report, expressing the necessary technical specifications.
3. Measurements of all those units or elements of occupational safety and health that have been defined or projected. Budget that quantifies the set of expenses planned for the application and execution of the safety and health study.

A health and safety plan is a document that includes the identification and evaluation of a series of risks that may occur on a construction site over a period of time, such as the construction of an industrial plant, adjustments to fire and / or evacuation or an extension thereof. Figures such as the developer, designer, contractor, subcontractor and specialized freelancers intervene in the works. In the writing of the security plan of your project we will include a series of points or milestones:

• Coordination or completion of the order sheet or check list. It is an essential part to give the green light in the Technical Office to any order: project, PSS, ERE, ESS … It is based on completion, in turn, of a document detailed on the development of the project you want to carry out.
• Coordination of meetings with the client’s occupational risk prevention department, trying to make the PSS document as concrete as possible at each stage of the project.
• Coordination and integration of the work logistics plan. We adapt your health and safety plan to the logistics to be implemented in the work, paying special attention to aspects such as:

1. Access for people and vehicles.
2. Means of elevation and transport.
3. Workshop and storage areas.
4. Supply areas, loading and unloading of materials.
5. Order management and cleaning.
6. Rubble Evacuation Management (MSW).

• Coordination and planning of the works. In order to adjust as much as possible to the scheduled dates and not experience delays, we will proceed to plan your project.
• Coordination and description of the work processes. Descriptive memory that includes the personnel, the means, the materials to be used, the possible interferences with other works and the estimated duration of each activity.
• Coordination of procedures and work formats.
• Preventive organization chart on site.
• Coordination in drawing plans, if necessary.

In some cases, minor works lack a work plan because it is not required by the competent authority. These are works of little technical entity and that do not affect structural elements: plaster and paint, assembly and disassembly of facilities, service connections, punctual repairs, minor renovations or adaptations in buildings, etc.  

The fact that a construction site is smaller does not mean that it is less dangerous for workers, so, in any case, it is necessary to take into account the obligations of all those involved in integrating the prevention of occupational hazards in the different phases of the process of execution.  

Regardless of whether it is a minor work without a project, the promoter of the work will appoint the safety and health coordinator during the execution of the work, provided that more than one company, or a company, and self-employed workers or various workers are involved in it. freelancers.