Shared Duties

The 3 C’s…

We spend a lot of time dealing with main contractors in construction (vertical and horizontal) both as clients and on behalf of subbies and suppliers who are our clients.
If there is a common theme and frustration, it is that a lot of main contractors do not understand Sec 34 of the Health & Safety at Work Act very well. This deals with shared duties and the need to consult, coordinate and cooperate – commonly known as the 3 C’s.
What we see time and time again is that main contractor prefer the D… Dictate. Sadly, this does rather miss the intent of the legislation. The result is that most Worksafe prosecutions and court rulings include Section 34! In short, 3 C’s does not equal D.
So what can we do differently?
Ironically, the more control we take the more we fail in our duty. So for starters, try communicating with subbies in their language. Don’t use jargon and acronyms, things like bow ties, ICAM investigations, etc - all the theory that works in a corporate setting… and come back to basics. Talk about risk and controls. That’s it.
You may just find that the subbies are actually quite on to it.