【Haichuan Chemical Safety Discussion】In the event of an accident during construction, who is responsible: the owner, the contractor, or the construction company?
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Case Review 01: Luo, Wang, and four others (hereinafter referred to as the “owners of the jointly built houses”) pooled their funds to construct jointly built houses in Changsha Town Street, Chishui City, Guizhou Province. On May 25, 2010, the owners of the jointly built houses signed a Project Contract with the construction team organized by Zhang and Huang. Subsequently, Zhang and Huang were responsible for organizing the workers to carry out the construction, with all the mechanical equipment needed for the work provided by Zhang and Huang. The construction funds are settled between the owners of the jointly built houses and Zhang and Huang, and paid directly to the contractor, who then distributes the funds to the workers according to their respective roles. On May 27, 2010, the owners of the joint construction project signed a construction contract with the construction company. They paid the company 4,300 yuan as a fee for relevant documents, and another 3,000 yuan for the salaries of the project manager, quality inspector, and safety officer. The owners also purchased group accident insurance and group medical insurance covering accidental expenses for the construction project in the name of the construction company from an insurance company. In July 2010, Zhang, who was employed by the contractor, was working on bricklaying tasks at that construction site when he was injured in a work safety accident, resulting in a fourth-degree disability. Zhang filed a lawsuit in court, seeking compensation for various losses. The court ruled that the defendants Zhang and Huang shall compensate the plaintiff Zhang for all his economic losses, with the owners of the jointly constructed buildings and the construction company bearing joint and several liability for such compensation. The defendants, Zhang and Huang, refused to accept the decision and filed an appeal. The Zunyi Intermediate People’s Court held that the facts as established in the first-instance trial were clear, and that the judgment ordering the defendants Zhang and Huang to compensate the plaintiff for their losses, along with the joint and several liability of the owners of the jointly constructed buildings and the construction company, was correct. Disagreement on the judgment 02 First opinion: The construction company shall bear the liability for compensation. Second opinion: The contractor and the owner shall bear liability for compensation based on their fault, while the construction company shall not bear any liability. Third opinion: The contractor shall bear the liability for compensation, while the owner and the construction company shall bear joint and several liability.
2. Is the relationship between the contractor and the owner one of engagement or contract? According to the Building Law, this joint construction project falls under the scope of construction activities regulated by the law; it should be assigned to a construction enterprise with the appropriate qualifications to carry out the construction work, and supervision over the project shall be carried out in accordance with the relevant regulations set forth by the construction administration authorities. At the same time, in accordance with Article 3, Items 1 and 2 of the \"Several Provisions on Strengthening the Quality and Safety Management of Construction Projects in Villages and Towns\" issued by the Ministry of Construction, the administrative department in charge of construction, individuals who build structures of more than two floors (not including two floors) in towns and villages must engage a unit with the appropriate construction qualifications to carry out the construction work, and supervision and management must be carried out in accordance with the law. Therefore, the contractor and the owner do not have a construction contract relationship, but rather a work engagement relationship. At the same time, in accordance with Article 1 of the judicial interpretation on construction project contracts, when the owner assigns a construction project to an unqualified contractor to carry out the actual construction work, the \"Project Contract\" signed between the two parties is considered an invalid contract.
3. What responsibilities do the owner, contractor, and construction company bear? First of all, there is an employment relationship between the contractor and the workers, and the contractor is liable to compensate the workers. In actual construction, the contractor is responsible for managing the work and hiring workers to carry out the construction; the payment for the work is settled between the contractor and the client, after which the contractor pays the workers their wages. After the owner signed a construction contract with the construction company, he only paid the company fees related to documentation, as well as the costs for the project manager, quality inspector, and safety officer. The construction company, in turn, only handled the procedures necessary for building the house on behalf of the owner. Therefore, what was actually carried out in this joint construction project was the ‘Project Construction Contract’ signed between the contractor and the owner, with the contractor being the actual constructor. Although the contractor and the owner are in a contract relationship, the provisions regarding the liability for compensation of contractors and clients set out in Article 10 of the judicial interpretations on personal injury should not apply. In this case, the owner illegally assigned a construction project that involved public safety to a contractor who clearly did not possess the necessary qualifications; both parties violated the mandatory regulations of the Construction Law regarding construction activities, which ultimately led to a work safety accident. Therefore, in accordance with Article 11 of the judicial interpretations on personal injury, the contractor shall bear liability for compensating its employees, while the owner and the contractor shall share joint and several liability for compensation. Finally, as enterprises with the appropriate qualifications for construction, building companies are the main entities involved in construction as stipulated by construction laws. They are required to carry out the construction work they have contracted under the mandatory provisions of these laws, and to ensure safe production. However, in order to collect a management fee from the client, building companies enter into construction contracts with them; they violate the regulations by handling the necessary procedures for projects that they actually do not construct, thereby helping the client avoid inspections related to safe production and project acceptance. This allows construction to proceed despite existing safety hazards, ultimately leading to safety accidents. In accordance with Article 52, Item (5) of the Contract Law, such construction contracts entered into with clients are also considered invalid contracts. However, since the construction company has collected fees from the owner for project managers, safety officers, etc., it should assume the responsibility of supervising and guiding safe construction practices to ensure safety to the greatest extent possible, thereby fulfilling its social responsibilities as a construction enterprise. Therefore, the construction company in this case should bear the strictest responsibility for its acts of evasion and negligence, that is, it must share joint and several liability for compensation with the contractor, so as to reflect the purpose of the legislation and deter those who act recklessly. Based on the above analysis and taking into account the details of the case, the third opinion is adopted in this case: the contractor shall bear the liability for compensation, while the property owner and the construction company shall bear joint and several liability. (Author’s institution: Chishui City People’s Court, Guizhou Province)
After reading the above article, I believe the judgment in this case is well-founded; I fully agree with it. It is true that this was an accident related to work safety, but it is not uncommon for the safety supervision agencies to lose lawsuits in similar cases. Relevant information can be found on the Internet.
These interrelationships are very important
That’s true; if the safety supervision department is unsure, it can easily suffer a defeat.
Front-end management: Management starts from the contract, with the contract clarifying responsibilities