CONSTRUCTION REGULATION 6: DESIGNERS DUTIES “ARCHITECTS (YOUR) DUTIES”.
1. The designer of a structure must ensure that the applicable safety standards incorporated
into these Regulations are complied with in the design.
2. The architect must take into consideration the health and safety specification submitted
by the client, and before the contract is put out to tender, the Architect must provide the
client with a report that includes all relevant health and safety information about the
design of the relevant structure that may affect the pricing of the construction work.
The geotechnical-science aspects, where appropriate, and the loading that the structure
is designed to withstand must be stated in the report.
3. The architects report must also inform the client in writing of any known or anticipated
dangers or hazards relating to the construction work, and make available all relevant
information required for the safe execution of the work upon being designed or when
the design is subsequently altered.
4. The architect must refrain from including anything in the design of the structure
necessitating the use of dangerous procedures or materials hazardous to the health and
safety of persons, which can be avoided by modifying the design or by substituting
materials. The architect should also take into account the hazards relating to any
subsequent maintenance of the relevant structure and must make provision in the design
for that work to be performed to minimize the risk.
5. During the design stage, the designer must take cognisance of ergonomic design
principles in order to minimize ergonomic related hazards in all phases of the life cycle
of a structure.
6. Should the client mandate the designer, he must carry out the necessary inspections at
appropriate stages to verify that everything is being built according to the design, and
stop any contractor from executing any construction work which is not in accordance
with the relevant design's health and safety aspects, provided that if the designer is
not so mandated, the client's appointed agent in this regard is responsible to carry out
such inspections.
ARCHITECTS NOTE: The architect has a very important role, and he must ensure that all the regulations attached to his duties are met at all times. Should the architect not take the health and safety specifications into consideration, and not provide the client with the report as discussed above, he is exposed to legal liability in terms of Regulation 33 of the Construction Regulations and Section 38 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Act 85 of 1993. These penalties and fines institutes a criminal offence with fines of up to R200000.00 and 1 year imprisonment for non-compliance.