I think that there are two aspects to this.

Firstly you need to be aware of what activities are going to take place, how, where etc so that you can ensure that a) the contractor is taking adequate precautuions to keep your employees safe and b) whether you need to do anything in this regard.

Secondly, you need to be aware of any potential threats to the business. If they drop the proverbial spanner in the works, how will it affect you, how will it be prevented, how will you minimise damage/interruption and how will you recover?

Just letting the contractor get on with it is not advisable.

Hi

Under section 4 of HASAWA 74 the person under an agreed tenancy has the obligation to control contractors entering or working on such premises, ther below is an extract taken from the aforementioned legislation :-

4 General duties of persons concerned with premises to persons other than their employees.

(1)This section has effect for imposing on persons duties in relation to those who—

(a)are not their employees; but

(b)use non-domestic premises made available to them as a place of work or as a place where they may use plant or substances provided for their use there,

and applies to premises so made available and other non-domestic premises used in connection with them.

(2)It shall be the duty of each person who has, to any extent, control of premises to which this section applies or of the means of access thereto or egress therefrom or of any plant or substance in such premises to take such measures as it is reasonable for a person in his position to take to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the premises, all means of access thereto or egress therefrom available for use by persons using the premises, and any plant or substance in the premises or, as the case may be, provided for use there, is or are safe and without risks to health.

(3)Where a person has, by virtue of any contract or tenancy, an obligation of any extent in relation to—

(a)the maintenance or repair of any premises to which this section applies or any means of access thereto or egress therefrom; or

(b)the safety of or the absence of risks to health arising from plant or substances in any such premises;

that person shall be treated, for the purposes of subsection (2) above, as being a person who has control of the matters to which his obligation extends.

However, under CDM 2015 your landlord will take on the role of a commercial client in respect of 

“client” means any person for whom a project is carried out;& therefore

(1) A client must make suitable arrangements for managing a project, including the allocation of sufficient time and other resources. (2) Arrangements are suitable if they ensure that— (a) the construction work can be carried out, so far as is reasonably practicable, without risks to the health or safety of any person affected by the project; and (b) the facilities required by Schedule 2 are provided in respect of any person carrying out construction work. (3) A client must ensure that these arrangements are maintained and reviewed throughout the project.

As such if the landlord is in charge of the purse strings then they will be client, if yourself arranged for the work to be carried out then yourself would be under the proviso of both Section 4 HASAWA 74 and Client duties under CDM 2015.

I would recommend discussing the above with your landlord and get something in writing.

The fundamental key here is communication, consultation, cooperation, liaison with appointed duty holders. 

I hope the above helps

Edited by user 09 July 2017 21:21:33(UTC)  | Reason: Exchanged client for landlord