BUILDING WORK ENVIRONMENT COORDINATOR FOR EXECUTION (BAS-P or U), described in the Swedish working environment legislation AML, Arbetsmiljölagens kap 3 (Swedish only), (3 Chap. General obligations) and in the EU´s directive 92/57 EEC.
1. What is BAS-P or U?
- BAS-P or U is a term used instead of the Building Work Environment coordinator for Execution in Sweden. It is a role that a commercial developer should, under specific conditions specified by the authorities, appoint or assign a competent person, if the developer will carry out construction work.
2. What are the special conditions?
- You have an obligation to bring in personal logbook if the total labor and material costs for the construction operations at a construction site are estimated to exceed four (4 x SEK 57.300.-) price base amounts (for the year 2024: SEK 229,600.-) excluding VAT. The application is made to the Swedish Tax Agency. The price base amount is used in social security and the tax system.
- The developer must, except for smaller work, submit a prior notification to the Swedish Work Environment Authority before the work commences.
- The requirement to submit a prior notification applies to construction sites where the work is expected to last for more than 30 working days and where more than 20 people are employed at one time or at the same time when the total number of personal days is estimated to exceed 500.
3. Who can assume BAS-U role?
- Someone with the requisite expertise in Swedish occupational health and safety legislation and experience in building production.
- It is common in Sweden that the production manager in the construction process assumes this role if he/she meets the requirements. It depends a lot on the scope of the project and the workload of the production manager.
- On larger projects there is one or more people who only work actively with the work environment, but it can only be a coordinating person who has the BAS-U responsibility role in the individual project. Other subordinate BAS-U can be called eg. Health & Safety Officer (HSO) or Supervisor (HSS)
4. How much does an independent BAS-U or an HSO consultant cost?
- The net hourly charge usually depending on the scope of the construction work in time, but not practically reasonable for the consultant since he has responsibility throughout the construction process and during the construction work in progress. The fee is negotiable and is based on the role, responsibility and contract duration of the assignment.
- In addition to the hourly cost the consultant will charge for example; travel tickets, travel time (at a reduced hourly cost), car rental, fuel, km charge if using own car, accommodation on site (if he/she normally not living close to the site) and other variable costs the consultant has.
- A contract sum over time (lump sum) is a practical better option for both parties.
- Any bonus, if the project has been accident-free, is a negotiation issue between the contracting parties.
5. When do the developer needs the BAS/U?
- Before construction work on site starts some administrative work precedes practical construction on site has to be done. Therefore, a Building Work Environment Coordinator (Bas-P) should be appointed at the planning stage, which will then hand over to BAS-U, who assumes responsibility for the practical construction work on site.
6. What responsibility does the building work environment coordinator, BAS-U have?
- The responsibility is described in the Swedish Work Environment Act and BAS-U has a legal responsibility that can result in a penalty charge or imprisonment if he or she fails to fulfill his assignment. BAS-U does not have a full duty of attendance at the building site but must be available in the event of a serious accident or incident being investigated.
The HSO role differs from BAS-U in the sense that HSO/HSS will be onsite as long as building activity is ongoing. HSO/HSS has to follow the ongoing work and the agreed working environment rules are followed.