---
id: KB-CN-018
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/construction/the-main-contractor-answering-for-others-work
idioma: en
categoria: sector-construccion
subcategoria: obracivil
audiencia: usuario
nivel: avanzado
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CN-016, KB-CS-001, KB-CN-014, KB-CN-015]
citadoPor: [KB-CN-019, KB-CN-020, KB-CN-026]
---

# The main contractor answering for others' work

_Your name is on the contract and eight companies work on site. Whatever you fail to control is attributed to you anyway._

**Responde a:** subcontractor document control on site · main contractor liability for subcontractors · what paperwork to require from each subcontractor · site access without documentation

You are the main contractor: you signed with the client and now eight companies are inside the hoarding, some hired by you and some hired by the ones you hired. To the client —and to anyone who asks— **the site is yours in its entirety**, whoever does the work.

## The three tiers, and where control collapses

| Tier | Do you control it | What usually fails |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Your own staff | Yes | Nothing, apart from expiries |
| Direct subcontractors | Nearly always | Staff changes mid-job |
| **Your subcontractors' subcontractors** | **Rarely** | **Everyone falls down here** |
| One-day self-employed workers | Almost never | And they are the least checked of all |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> **Control is done per PERSON and per day, not per company and per contract.** A subcontractor delivered their documentation in March and in July sends four new people: on paper everything is in order and on site there are people with nothing on record. If something happens, the first thing examined is who was there that day — and that list either exists or it does not; it is not reconstructed.

## What holds the chain downwards

1. **The duty to report who enters, in every contract** — And travelling downwards: your subcontractor must require it of theirs.
2. **A real consequence for entering unreported** — Without one, the duty is decorative.
3. **The daily record of who was on site** — It is what is always asked for after an incident.
4. **And expiries watched, not checked once** — Training, medicals and insurance lapse during the job.

> [!WARNING]
> The blind spot that causes most grief: **the worker who comes through the gate with another company**. Someone arrives to take a measurement, a manufacturer's technician adjusts a machine, a driver unloads and stays to help for half an hour. None appears under any subcontractor and all are inside the hoarding. The gate is the only place that shows, and only if whoever controls it knows they count too.

> [!NOTE]
> What duties a main contractor assumes regarding subcontractors, what documentation must be required and kept, and how site coordination is organised is set by the applicable prevention and subcontracting rules. **Your prevention service settles that**; here we cover the practical control that decides whether that documentation is worth anything.

**Am I liable for my subcontractor's subcontractor?**

To the client, the site is yours. Hence controlling the chain downwards.

**Do I have to check every person?**

It is what gets examined after an incident. Per company is not enough.

**What about one-day technical visits?**

They are inside the hoarding. They count the same.

## Ejemplos

**A subcontractor delivered documentation in March and in July sends four new people.**

- Controls per person as well as per company, registering on entry

→ There stop being people on site with nothing on record.

**After an incident they ask who was there that day and no record exists.**

- Keeps a daily access log, including self-employed workers and visitors

→ The question is answered with a list rather than a reconstruction.

**A subcontractor brings in another company and does not report it.**

- Passes the duty to report downwards by contract, with a consequence

→ The chain can be walked to the last self-employed worker.

**A manufacturer's technician comes to adjust a machine and nobody logs it.**

- Includes technical visits in the access control

→ Everyone inside the hoarding is on record.

**An operative's training lapses mid-job and nobody notices.**

- Watches expiries instead of checking once at the start

→ The alert fires before it lapses rather than after.

**Real control happens at the gate and someone is always arguing with the guard.**

- Checks before the first day, leaving the gate as the last filter

→ Gate arguments disappear because people arrive already checked.