Summer is known to be a busy time for construction sites and maintenance shutdowns. When employees from many different companies work on a shared construction site, it is important to ensure that statutory matters are handled appropriately. Occupational Safety and Health authorities, the Tax Administration and the Finnish Centre for Pensions can carry out joint inspections, the purpose of which is to prevent the grey economy and ensure compliance with fair working conditions.
There are many issues on shared construction sites that are monitored by the Regional State Administrative Agencies’ Occupational Safety and Health Admnistration. The objects of inspections may include, for example, compliance with the Liability Act, ensuring the appropriateness of personal identification cards, the use of foreign labor, and the maintenance of a construction site employee list. The scope of inspections by the Finnish Centre for Pensions includes fulfilling the pension insurance obligation of employers and entrepreneurs. The Tax Administration monitors issues related to taxation and construction notifications.
Inspection coming – what should you do!?!
You shouldn’t be nervous or afraid of inspections coming to the construction site 🙂 By ensuring that legal matters are handled on time, you can avoid extra heartthrobs when inspections come to the construction site. If, for example, there is uncertainty regarding the Liability Act documents or the verification of the right to work related to foreign labor, it is worth seeking support in good time, for example from consultants familiar with the matter. There is still a lot of work to be done in fighting against the grey economy. For example, on the construction site, it is worth considering the length of subcontracting chains and whether the client of the construction site will ensure that the Liability Act documents are checked throughout the chain. Liability Act must be followed for all work performed in Finland and in all industries when the client uses work force leasing or subcontracting. In more detail, the Liability Act must be complied with in the case of hiring out workers when the total work of all temporary workers lasts more than 10 days and in subcontracting when the value of the subcontracting agreement excluding VAT is more than 9,000 euros. Although each client is only obliged to check the Liability Act documents of their own contracting partner, the main buyer of the construction site can ensure that the Liability Act documents of all companies working on the construction site are checked. This provides certainty that the requirements of the authorities have been handled in an appropriate manner throughout the entire subcontracting chain.
