FAQ.05

Question:

When is the owner a constructor and what does that mean?

Answer:

The term “constructor” comes from the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA). In part, it refers to the person responsible for health and safety on a construction site. The constructor is the person who has control of the site, which is usually the general contractor. If there is more than one contractor on site (not subcontractors) then no one contractor has control and OSHA declares the owner to be the constructor.

OHSA also defines the responsibilities and duties of the constructor, and the penalties faced by the constructor for any contraventions of the Act. Other than referring to OHSA itself, the best discussion of who the constructor is and what they must do is found in the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s “Constructor Guideline: Health and Safety”.

Be aware that the latest version of RAIC 6 uses the term “constructor” in place of the term “contractor” in previous versions. This can lead to confusion when RAIC 6 is used for projects in Ontario.