Construction Site Safety

Engineer Had No Duty to Warn General Contractor’s Employee of Danger, ConstructionRisk.com Report, Vol. 6, No. 2, Feb 04, discusses a recent Mississippi court case in which a structural engineer was sued by the family of a construction worker who died as a result of an accident during construction. The worker's estate charged that the engineer's design was defective, and that the engineer had not performed his duty to warn the worker of dangers posed by the design.

For design professionals whose work takes them into the field, this article is a good reminder concerning who is responsible for construction site safety (the general contractor), and how the design professional should conduct themselves in the field so as to avoid assuming responsibility for such matters.

According to the article, the engineer's role during construction was limited to "monitoring the progress of the construction work" for general compliance with the design documents. The engineer was not authorized to stop work, or issue change orders. Resposibility for site safety was also assigned to the general contractor by its contract for construction. Based on these facts, and a lack of evidence of any deficiencies in the design, the court sided with the engineer.

The article goes on to summarize actions that courts are likely to consider in assigning responsibility for site safety, including for example:

• Supervision and control of the work
• Constant participation in construction site activities
• Supervision of subcontractors
• Assumption of responsibility for safety practices
• Assuming authority to issue change orders or to stop work