June 1st 2013 will see a significant change to the Construction Safety Regulations. Up to now domestic clients (clients commissioning works in their own home) did not have to appoint Project Supervisors or notify their projects to the Health and Safety Authority (H.S.A.) All this changes on the first of June.
From this date, onwards, all clients must appoint a Project Supervisor for the Design Stage (PSDP) and for the Construction Stage (PSCS) of a construction project and notify the H.S.A. that the project is starting. This applies to nearly all projects, except for those projects which are small, uncomplicated and almost risk-free.
The main reason for these changes is the fact that historically safety standards have been much lower on smaller domestic scale projects here in Ireland than larger projects and fatalities have been much higher.
Everyone embarking on a construction project no matter how small needs to be aware of these changes. As a PSDP please feel free to contact me if you require further information relating to a specific project.
