First amendment to the Construction Site Ordinance

On 1 April 2023, changes to the Construction Site Ordinance from June 1998 will come into force for the first time. The reason for this is a reminder from the EU Commission with detailed demands for improvements with reference to sanctions in the event of non-compliance with the specified level. The necessity also arises from the high accident figures and the highest number of deaths at work in the construction industry.

The key points of the revision are references in § 2 to the legally responsible party in accordance with § 4 of the Construction Site Ordinance (client or authorised third party) instead of the previous references in § 7.

In addition, Section 4 creates an obligation for the person responsible to provide information for construction measures for which advance notice is required or particularly hazardous work in accordance with Annex II takes place, even if this is only carried out by employees of a contractor. This information on the circumstances on the site must be based on the content that would have to be taken into account in a health and safety plan.

In § 3, the obligation to appoint one or more coordinators is clearly assigned to the person responsible in accordance with § 4. Furthermore, the requirement to adapt the safety and health protection plan is no longer linked to significant changes in the construction work, but to changes that have an impact on coordination.

In Section 5, the obligations of employers are extended to include special measures for particularly hazardous work in accordance with Annex II and a reference to the information in Section 2 (4) is added.

In Annex II, editorial adjustments have been made to the structure of the BioStoffV and the GefStoffV. Furthermore, under point 10 on the assembly or dismantling of solid construction elements, reference is no longer made to the individual weight of the components, but to the use of power-driven work equipment.