Coordinator I and II on Occupational Safety and Health

According to the amendments to the Law on Occupational Safety and Health Act (NN 86/08 and 116/08) from 2008, new concepts have been introduced, namely:

  • COORDINATOR I – in the design stage
  • COORDINATOR II – in the construction stage.

Parallel to that, Ordinance on occupational safety at temporary and mobile construction sites (NN 51/08.) has been itroduced, that aligns with the Directive 92/57/EEZ of the European Union on the minimum safety and health requirements at temporary or mobile construction sites.

Duties of the COORDINATOR I in the project design stage:

  • Coordinate the implementation of the principles of occupational safety and health
  • Develop or give orders to develop construction work plan, taking into account the rules applicable to the respective site and taking care of all the activities carried out on the site
  • Create the documentation, which contains the specifics of the project as well as important safety and health information, which are required to be applied after the construction.

Duties of the COORDINATOR II in the construction stage are:

  • Coordinate the implementation of the principles of occupational safety and health:
    • when making decisions on technical and/or organizational measures during the planning phase of individual work;
    • in determining the terms, which are necessary for the safe completion of certain phases of work, which is carried out simultaneously or in sequence.
  • Coordinate the execution of appropriate procedures, to ensure that employers and other persons:
    • consistently apply the principles of occupational safety and health,
    • execute works in accordance with the plan works.
  • Develop or encourage the development of the necessary adjustments to the plan works and documentation of any changes to the site.
  • To organize cooperation and mutual reporting of all contractors and their workers’ representatives, who will together or one after the other (sequentially) work on the same site, in order to prevent injuries and protect the health of workers.
  • Check that the working procedures are conducted in a safe manner and coordinate the required activities.
  • Arrange that the site can be accessed only by persons who are employed in it, and those who have a permit entry to the site.

Appointing the Coordinator

The investor is obliged to appoint one or more coordinators for occupational safety and health when the work is performed or is scheduled to be performed by two or more contractors.

The investor must appoint coordinator(s) especially for project design stage and construction stage.

Construction site log-in

The investor is obligated to register the site in accordance with the information given in the case of:

  • anticipated duration of the work longer than 30 working days on which more than 20 employees are working simultaneously, or
  • where the intended scope of work is of 500 people – days or more.

In the case of performing particularly dangerous work, the site login has to be made, no matter the duration of work and the number of workers who perform this work.

The investor is required, at least eight days prior to the commencement of works on the construction site, to submit the application site to the body responsible for labour inspection or other appropriate authority submitting work plan.

If there’s only one contractor, performing dangerous work on the site, or working for a period longer than five days, it is required within 8 days prior to commencement of site works to submit the application to the body responsible for labor inspection or other appropriate authority with the submission of the plan implementation works.

A copy of the application site must be visibly displayed on the site.

The application site is required to update the investor in the event of changes affecting the schedule of completion of work, as well as in the case of introduction of a new contractor or temporary suspension of work.

Penal provisions:

are prescribed by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (NN 59/96, 94/96, 114/03, 100/04, 86/08, 116/08, 75/09) in Article 103a , 103b and 109a , in short as follows:

  • “A fine from 20.000,00 to 90.000,00 kuna shall be imposed on the investor if he fails to appoint a coordinator for safety at work during the project or fails to appoint a coordinator for occupational health and safety during the construction works.”
      • according to Art. 263 for endangering life and dangerous public acts or means.
      • according to Art. 265 be held responsible for damage to protective devices at workPeople can be responsible and criminally liable under the Criminal Code:
        • according to Art. 266 dangerous for construction works and
        • according to Art. 271 for serious offenses against public safety

Documents (PDF)