Section 11.8 Responsibility for Job Site Safety

• Library: Construction Law 2016 Supp

D. (§11.8) Responsibility for Job Site Safety

The courts are generally divided on this issue absent a specific contract provision obligating the design professional to be responsible for the safety of workers on the job site. The question is one of legal duty that different courts evaluate differently. In Herczeg v. Hampton Township Municipal Authority, 766 A.2d 866 (Pa. 2001), the court held that an engineering firm retained to draft plans and specifications for a water line extension did not have a duty to a contractor’s employee whose death was caused by a trench cave-in because the firm’s only responsibility to supervise work or provide safety oversight was to make two visits per month to observe the progress and quality of work. Id. at 873–74. The court based its decision on the fact that the engineering firm was not required to have a full-time representative on site, did not participate in the means and methods of the trenching work being performed, and had no authority to...