Building Works? Another Grey Area For Landlords….

A letting agent has been sentenced this month for safety breaches after a self- employed builder suffered first and third degree burns to his face, hands, neck and chest. Do you as a landlord, know when you are liable for any injuries sustained by a tradesman you employ?

In this case, the injured worker 50-year-old Michael Phillips suffered an electric shock in October 2015 when he was carrying out work for IPH Investments Ltd at an address in Station Parade Harrogate. The premises were being converted into a sunbed and beauty salon. The usual supply for most domestic dwellings is 240v but because this supply was feeding both shop premises and residential flats a larger supply was needed (400v). The company needed to carry out some preparatory work before the new supply could be installed. This involved the digging out of a small trench in the hallway of the site so that a new electricity supply could be installed into the property. While digging the trench Mr Phillips struck the existing live service cable with the small breaker he was using.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the firm over the incident. IPH Investments Ltd of Orchard House, Haywra Street, Harrogate pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £53,000.00 with £654.60 costs by Leeds Magistrates Court.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Jayne Towey commented: "This case was entirely preventable if the company had carried out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment before work began. The company could have used a cable avoidance tool (CAT) before any digging was carried out. This would have helped to locate the buried electrical service."

This is obviously a grey area for landlords. If you employ a company to, say, rewire a property or build an extension, then you expect that company to be liable for any avoidable injuries its employees may sustain and if you have an employee who you ask to do some maintenance work, then obviously you are liable for any avoidable injuries he sustains. But what about injuries sustained by a self-employed tradesman you hire to do some work - who is liable? 

We asked Steve Cox of Boswells Insurance (our preferred provider) and he said, "Yes of course you have Employers Liability cover in place on your policy in the event of an Employers Liability claim. There was a new law which came into effect last year which affects all landlords - The Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015.

I have attached a copy of this for your records. Find it here....

Basically, it requires all landlords having any "construction" work carried out on their properties to have a full Health & Safety plan in place even if this involves purely decoration and any repairs or renovations.

If they are employing a principal contractor to arrange the works, then this contractor should have everything in place, but it is still worth the landlord checking.

If using a sub-contractor who is labour only, the client is also the principal contractor.

For minor works such as decorating a simple H&S method statement should suffice.

I have enclosed a H&S contractor approval form for your reference which I hope is of use to you. Find it here....

The response from the insurers on this point is as follows:

Upshot is we cannot categorically say if the landlord would be liable or if our policy would respond for any claim (Employers Liability or Personal Liability) as each case on its individual merits and circumstances would be key e.g. safe environment to work, compliance with any H&S regulations in play (fire safety, asbestos), relationship to the person doing the work e.g. main contractor, employee etc. but all we can say is that the policyholder must take all reasonable steps to ensure that all persons entering the property are safe - tenants and workmen (and trespassers) alike.

From an advice point of view we can only recommend that the policyholder takes all steps to ensure they could not be held negligent in the event of an incident including safe properties, employing competent workmen and complying with regulations. .

What is interesting is that this is an HSE prosecution and may not necessarily reflect who actually paid any claim, it could have been Employers Liability under a contractor"s policy or the Landlords Liability policy may have responded, it is not clear, neither are the full circumstances.

Additionally I would also point out that the policy does of course provide H&S prosecution costs if they are being prosecuted on H&S legislative matters. "

The net of this is that if you are using a 3rd party to undertake any building or maintenance works - unless it is a large company with multiple employees, it is worth spending a few minutes completing an assessment for your records. Remember you can be liable if you select a tradesperson who lacks the necessary skills or competence and also, if you are buying, say, the boiler and asking the tradesman to fit it, then this definitely comes into the 'labour only' category - so do make sure you take all possible steps to foresee potential accidents and to minimise the risk of them occurring.