Safety costs - legislation and pratice

In July 2003, the Italian government enacted Presidential Decree 222/03 in order to provide more stringent rules for project documentation used to coordinate the health and safety management of workers employed on work sites. Presidential Decree 222/03 further defines the two main documents for site safety management: the Health and Safety Coordination Plan (H&SCP) prepared by the client and the Safety Operating Plan (SOP) submitted by the contractor. This paper examines interrelations that this addition to regulations brings to the complex system of safety management specific to the construction industry. In particular, it illustrates the quantification and payment of safety costs and implications of safety management on the work site, also by means of a case study. Legislation has established that the costs required to satisfy measures detailed in the safety plan must be calculated at safety design stage. In Italy the requirement to prepare a Health and Safety Coordination Plan (H&SCP) necessarily involves a number of enterprises. It is therefore necessary to identify at project design stage the correct division of works among the various enterprises in order to calculate the safety costs of each.