[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 8]
[Revised as of July 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR1926.16]

[Page 21-22]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
CHAPTER XVII--OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT 
                                OF LABOR
 
PART 1926_SAFETY AND HEALTH REGULATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION--Table of Contents
 
                    Subpart B_General Interpretations
 
Sec. 1926.16  Rules of construction.

    (a) The prime contractor and any subcontractors may make their own 
arrangements with respect to obligations which might be more 
appropriately treated on a jobsite basis rather than individually. Thus, 
for example, the prime contractor and his subcontractors may wish to 
make an express agreement that the prime contractor or one of the 
subcontractors will provide all required first-aid or toilet facilities, 
thus relieving the subcontractors from the actual, but not any legal, 
responsibility (or, as the case may be, relieving the other 
subcontractors from this responsibility). In no case shall the prime 
contractor be relieved of overall responsibility for compliance with the 
requirements of this part for all work to be performed under the 
contract.
    (b) By contracting for full performance of a contract subject to 
section

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107 of the Act, the prime contractor assumes all obligations prescribed 
as employer obligations under the standards contained in this part, 
whether or not he subcontracts any part of the work.
    (c) To the extent that a subcontractor of any tier agrees to perform 
any part of the contract, he also assumes responsibility for complying 
with the standards in this part with respect to that part. Thus, the 
prime contractor assumes the entire responsibility under the contract 
and the subcontractor assumes responsibility with respect to his portion 
of the work. With respect to subcontracted work, the prime contractor 
and any subcontractor or subcontractors shall be deemed to have joint 
responsibility.
    (d) Where joint responsibility exists, both the prime contractor and 
his subcontractor or subcontractors, regardless of tier, shall be 
considered subject to the enforcement provisions of the Act.