Government Decision No. 300/2006
Although health and safety requirements are generally regulated under Law no. 319/2006, the provisions of GD 300/2006 take precedence over the general law, as these are more restrictive and/or more specific. According to GD 300/2006, worksites are regulated as any site where construction or civil engineering works are carried out, with a non-exhaustive list being provided in Annex 1. GD 300/2006 also defines several terms used throughout, such as beneficiary, site manager, designer, contractor, health and safety coordinator, etc. Obligations of the beneficiary and the contractor According to GD 300/2006, when the works on the site are carried out by several entities (i.e. contractors, subcontractors and/or independent workers), the beneficiary and/or the site supervisor must appoint a health and safety coordinator for the entire duration of the works. The beneficiary or the site manager must also establish a health and safety plan prior to the opening of the site, drafted by the health and safety coordinator. A health and safety plan is a written document containing measures that must be carried out in order to prevent risks that might appear during works on the site. Articles 17 to 19 of GD 300/2006 list the minimum requirements that the health and safety plan must cover. Moreover, the annexes of GD 300/2006 also set out specific risks related to work areas and types of work that have to be included in the content of the health and safety plan. A contractor has a separate obligation to draft its own health and safety plan to be provided to the beneficiary, the site manager or the health and safety coordinator, as the case may be, within 30 days from the date of contracting the work. The contractor’s plan must be coordinated with the worksite health and safety plan (n.b. the plan prepared by the beneficiary). The same requirement to prepare a plan applies to subcontractors working on the site. Before starting works on the site, the health and safety plan prepared by the contractor/subcontractor must be reviewed and approved by the health and safety coordinator, by the occupational physician and the health and safety committee members or the workers’ representatives. The plan must be updated whenever necessary and the contractor has an obligation to keep it five (5) years after the final handover of the works is done. Aside from the health and safety plan, GD 300/2006 provides for other mandatory documents:
- the coordination registry, kept by the health and safety coordinator, evidencing all documents prepared by the supervisor, events on the site, findings and accidents;
- the subsequent interventions file, also prepared by the health and safety coordinator.
If the site is expected to remain open for longer than thirty (30) working days, and it employs more than 20 workers at the same time - or involves a volume of work in excess of 500 man-days - the beneficiary or site supervisor must give prior notice in accordance with Annex III of GD 300/2006 to the territorial labour inspectorate before work starts. The main obligation of employers (either on beneficiary or contractor side) is to comply with the general obligations set out in GD 300/2006, the requirements of the health and safety plan and the instructions of the safety coordinator or the site manager. The appointment of several health and safety coordinators by the beneficiary or by the site manager to carry out the obligations set out by GD 300/2006, does not exempt them from liability.