This act was put into place to regulate building and construction work for reasons of health and safety. In the written Act, there are certain specifics mentioned in brackets known as the dictionary. These are terms mentioned to indicate what exactly the act is working towards. An example of this is, if you come across the signpost definition being ‘occupation class’, then the same term defined in 2004 Construction Occupations Act is what applies to the statement in which it is used.
The Act starts with important concept such as what is building work and meaning of disturbed friable asbestos. The Act then goes on to talk about exemptions where the complete work done is considered either liable or exempt to the Act. The Act then provides a list of certifiers to the builders, defining their role in the job, where the certifiers will analyze the material used and the overall construction and after completion will issue the builder a clearance certificate. The Act also clearly states the requirements of construction and the rules concerning the usage of asbestos. The inspections are ruled to be carried out in stages, while the Act also outlines the directions and safety precautions.
The Act also lays down what is an offence and what exactly is non compliance to the Act, which can come into consideration as the information provided by the certifies, or the people or even the building partners. Then depending on the seriousness of the non compliance the constructions is then issued a stop or demolition notice. As however rigid this law may sound, the stop and demolition notices can still be resisted by the land owner in a courtroom after filling in the required application.
Once the building is occupied, then the Act also states the information that needs to be provided to the occupants, such as the safe live load limit on each floor along with an occupancy certificate. The Act then states that the building should then be given statutory warranties along with fidelity certificates after the inspectors have finally passed the construction. The inspectors among other codes also approve the asbestos code, which is also outlined in the Building Act 2004.
