29 Jul RESPONSIBILITY OF COMMUNITIES OF OWNERS DURING WORKS WITHIN THE COMMUNITY
RESPONSIBILITY OF COMMUNITIES OF OWNERS DURING WORKS WITHIN THE COMMUNITY
Works organised by a Community of Owners, for which the community hires a company to carry out the work, automatically makes the Community of Owners a promoter of these works, thereby subjecting the community to certain obligations.
Extensive experience with Communities of Owners
Here at Esclapés e Hijos we use our experience in carrying out works for various Communities of Owners in the surrounding areas within the province of Alicante to write this and subsequent blogs in order to address the issue of works within Communities of Owners, and to make ourselves available to our existing customers and hopefully future customers in an attempt to alleviate and doubts around the subject.
As we have mentioned previously, it must be assumed that for maintenance, repair, renovation and/or improvement of facilities or anything else belonging to a Community of Owners, this Community of Owners is obliged to hire one or several companies to carry out the work.
By contracting a company, you are automatically appointed the role of promoter and as such the Community of Owners, through the contracted company, then becomes subject to labour responsibilities.
WHAT RESPONSIBILITIES DOES A COMMUNITY OF OWNERS HAVE WHEN CONTRACTING OUT A JOB?
The most significant responsibility during the work relates to occupational health and safety of the activities of all companies involved in carrying out the work.
The application of Royal Decree 1627/1997, 24th October, has gained great importance in the construction sector, since it obliges companies to meet minimum health and safety requirements in construction works.
It also gives rise to a new issue relating to occupational risk prevention, in which all parties involved in the construction process are responsible, especially the promoter who must lead the preventative process by hiring qualified professionals and provide them with necessary tools to carry out their job.
On the other hand, this type of activity is a major source of risk for the workers who participate in it.
WHAT RESPONSIBILITIES DOES A COMMUNITY OF OWNERS HAVE IN A JOB?
CIVIL RESPONSIBILITY
As a requirement for a worker to exercise civil liability action for damages against the Community of Owners as an employer, it is necessary that he has suffered an accident at work or a professional illness as a result of a the community’s non-compliance of an obligation in preventative matters.
(Articles 1,101 of the Civil Code that regulates contractual civil liability and article 1,902 of the same legal body, which regulates non-contractual civil liability)
ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITY
This responsibility is required by the Public Administration in the event of a breach by the Community of Owners of any of its obligations in preventative matters, when they were classified as an administrative infraction in the regulations, regardless of whether the worker had suffered a work accident or a professional illness (Royal Legislative Decree 5/2000, of August 4, which approves the Consolidated Text of the Law on Infractions and Sanctions in the Social Order.
CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY
This penalty arises when those who, being legally bound and in violation of the norms for the prevention of occupational hazards, do not provide the necessary means for the workers to carry out their activity with the appropriate health and safety measures, so as to seriously endanger their life, health or physical integrity. These are called risk crimes.
In order for criminal liability to arise, there is no need for actual harm to have come to the worker, it is only necessary to have put the worker in a situation which posed a serious danger to his life, health or physical integrity, as a result of a violation of a norm of prevention of labor risks (Articles 316, 317 and 318 of the Penal Code)
SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS SURCHARGE
All mandatory Social Security benefits to which the worker is entitled as a result of an accident at work or occupational disease (temporary disability, permanent disability, severe disability, widow’s pension, etc.) as a result of a breach of the Community of Owners of the regulations on prevention of occupational hazards, will be increased, depending on the severity of the lack of 30 to 50 percent (Article 123 of Royal Legislative Decree 1/1994, of June 20, which approves the Consolidated Text of the General Law of Social Security)
OUR COUNCIL AS A CONSTRUCTION COMPANY
The Community of Owners is responsible as a promoter of the execution of the works in accordance with the applicable legislation on occupational health and safety.
In these cases it is best to hire a competent and appropriately qualified technician to direct, guide and organise the entire construction process, and not only as we have commented on health and safety, but also relating to technical aspects of the work.
Above all, hiring a company provides technical, economic and quantitative solvency to do the type of work for which it is hired, complying with all mandatory compliance rules and regulations on which we have commented in this blog.
It goes without saying that our company offers such a service, complying with all the conditions and putting at your service all of our experience and expertise.