Posted By Heather Aston Jane It;s not the HASAW Act that applies. Start here: http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/work_time_regs/wtr0.htm Does not apply to the self-employed as you will see in the first section. Heather

Posted By Heather Aston Jane I think the point is that you don't have an obligation towards contractors at all under the WTD. It's up to their employer to comply with the Regs regarding their hours of work. The Regs don't apply to self-employed persons as defined on the DTi page for which I gave you the link. Heather

Posted By Heather Aston Jane try this page http://www.dti.gov.uk/er...e_regs/wtr2.htm#section2 which relates to the application of the hours worked limit. You will see it refers to EMPLOYERS all the way through. It even defines what one is. No you are not responsible for applying the WTD to contractors who are not your employees. Not sure if I'm just not being clear here or if you're after an answer from someone other than me? Or is it just Friday? Heather

Posted By Heather Aston Frank At the risk of confusing the issue even more. Whe you say "the rules" are you refering to the WTD rules about hours worked that Jane asked about or your rules in general including H&S rules? Jane's question is very specific and related to the hours being worked by contractors. My answer is that it is not their responsiblity to police this - for example to check if their contractors have signed the opt-out or not. Obvioulsy they have other responsibility towards contractors under more general H&S law - but not under the rules brought in by the WTD. Heather