Title IV of Italian Legislative Decree 81/2008 – Temporary or mobile construction sites – is more stringent in its regulations than the more general scope of Title I: it frames a specific situation (that of construction sites), a specific safety organisation chart and different rules which, however, are perfectly in line with the entire text of the Legislative Decree.
The scope of Title IV 81/2008
Title IV of Legislative Decree 81/2008 governs any construction or civil engineering work. Annex X of the same Legislative Decree specifies the work falling within the scope of Title IV. The field of application is therefore very broad: Title IV covers, for example, all construction, demolition, dismantling and maintenance work (scheduled or unscheduled) relating to works in reinforced concrete, wood, metal or other materials.
Title IV: ratio legis
The rationale underlying Title IV is the assumption that safety management at construction sites should have a specific, more binding structure and set of regulations than is provided for in Title I.
The main features of the regulation are:
- the introduction of the figures of the Safety Coordinators for both the planning and execution phases (“CSP” and “CSE”) and of the Construction Project Manager (“RL”)
- greater accountability of the contractor commissioning the project
- specific documents governing safety must be drawn up: the Safety and Coordination Plan (“PSC”) and the Operational Safety Plan (“POS”)
- the Technical and Professional Suitability of the companies involved must be verified, in accordance with Annex XVII of d.lgs 81/2008 81/2008
- the identification of the Contractor entrusted with the project to whom management and coordination obligations are effectively transferred.
Construction site safety organisation chart
At the top of the construction site safety organisation chart is the contractor who is commissioning the project, i.e., the person or entity on whose behalf the work is being carried out. This figure is ultimately responsible for health and safety on any construction project, unless these responsibilities are delegated in part or in full, by means of the appointment of a Construction Project Manager (“RL”).
The Contractor commissioning the project and the Construction Project Manager are obliged to appoint a Safety Coordinator for the Planning Phase (“CSP”) and a Safety Coordinator for the Execution Phase (“CSE”). The main task of the “CSP” is to draw up the Safety and Coordination Plan (“PSC”), the central document for the management of safety on a construction site. The “CSE”, on the other hand, is responsible for checking the application of the “PSC” by means of on-site coordination.
The construction site safety organisation chart includes the contractor entrusted with the project, the contracted companies and self-employed workers.
The formal role of the “Contractor entrusted with the project” is a new element in the regulation of construction site safety, introduced with Legislative Decree 81/2008. The company that has this role is the holder of the contract with the Contractor commissioning the project. All the companies directly contracted to carry out works are, to all intents and purposes, “Contractors entrusted with the project”, which have engaged one or more sub-contractor(s) – i.e., companies that contribute to the implementation of the project and the performance of the various works using their own workers and equipment, and each of these directly contracted companies is accountable in relation to the various obligations that used to be the responsibility of the “CSE” alone. It should be noted that these Contractor(s) entrusted with the project may also be those which carry out the works directly if they contribute to the implementation of the project, i.e., they carry out works.
Key points for the application of the regulations
Verification of Technical and Professional Suitability
Verifying technical and professional suitability is the starting point for correct construction site management and is the responsibility of the Contractor commissioning the project.
The legislator has acknowledged the essential importance of the fact that the choices made by the Contractor commissioning the project regarding the companies contracted in the framework of the same project cannot be based on an assessment of costs alone.
When reviewing suitability, the presence of a coherent safety management structure must be verified together with the effective technical and organisational capabilities of the companies called upon to carry out the works.
This obligation is transferred in full to the Contractors entrusted with the project when they choose sub-contractors, and the same criteria as those identified by the Contractor commissioning the project must be applied.
The minimum criteria are defined in Annex XVII of d.lgs 81/2008. 81/2008