Who Is Responsible If Something Goes Wrong During a Strip Out?

September 21, 2026

strip out contractors

There is no single answer to this question, and anyone who gives you one is oversimplifying. Responsibility on a strip out project is distributed across several legal roles at once, and more than one party can be liable for the same incident. Client, principal designer, principal contractor, individual contractors and workers all carry duties under UK law, and which one of them actually answers for a specific failure depends on where in the chain that failure happened. This guide walks through who holds which duty, what happens when things go wrong in practice, and what you can do as the person commissioning the work to make sure liability does not land on you unfairly.

The legal framework in one paragraph

Strip out work in Great Britain is governed by the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, known as CDM. CDM applies to all construction work, including strip out, refurbishment and demolition, regardless of the size of the project. It creates named duty holders, each with specific legal responsibilities, and critically, those responsibilities cannot be signed away in a contract. You can pay someone else to do the work, but you cannot fully hand off your own legal duty by writing a clause that says so.

Sitting alongside CDM is the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, which places a general duty on employers and the self-employed to protect anyone affected by their work, not just their own employees. The Health and Safety Executive investigates serious incidents under both pieces of legislation and can prosecute companies and, in serious cases, individual directors or managers personally.

The point most people missAppointing a contractor does not transfer all your legal responsibility to them. As the client commissioning the work, you have your own duties under CDM that exist independently of what your contractor does. If you fail to meet them, being able to point at your contractor's failure does not automatically protect you.

The duty holders, and what each one actually answers for

CDM defines five roles. On a strip out project, most of these apply regardless of size, though the paperwork scales with the complexity of the job.

Duty Holder 1

The Client

This is whoever is having the work done. It could be the building owner, the tenant commissioning a strip out, or a developer. The client has to make sure suitable arrangements are in place for managing the project, that sufficient time and resources are allowed, that relevant information about the building is provided to the contractor, and that welfare facilities will be adequate. For a notifiable project, the client must appoint a principal designer and principal contractor in writing.

Domestic clients, meaning individuals having work done on their own home, have their duties passed automatically to the contractor or principal contractor. This exception does not apply to commercial clients. If you are a business commissioning a strip out, you carry client duties personally and they do not disappear just because you hired a contractor.

Duty Holder 2

The Principal Designer

Required on any project with more than one contractor. Responsible for planning, managing and coordinating health and safety during the pre-construction phase, identifying risks in the design and specification of the works before anyone sets foot on site, and compiling the pre-construction information that gets handed to the contractor. On a strip out, this often overlaps with whoever surveyed the building and scoped the works, and it is frequently the client's own consultant or the contractor themselves taking on this role formally.

Duty Holder 3

The Principal Contractor

Required on any project with more than one contractor working at the same time. Responsible for planning, managing and coordinating health and safety during the construction phase itself. This means preparing the Construction Phase Plan, managing the site, coordinating the different trades and subcontractors, ensuring welfare facilities are provided, and making sure only authorised people access the site. On most strip out projects, this is your main strip out contractor, and it is the role that carries the most day to day operational responsibility once work is underway.

Duty Holder 4

Designers and Contractors

Any individual or company carrying out construction work, including subcontractors and specialist trades. Each one has a duty to plan, manage and monitor their own work, to cooperate with the principal contractor, and to ensure their own workers are competent and adequately supervised. If a specialist subcontractor, such as an M&E isolation specialist or an asbestos removal contractor, causes a failure through their own negligence, that liability sits primarily with them, though the principal contractor still carries responsibility for having appointed and coordinated them properly.

Duty Holder 5

Workers

Individual operatives on site have a duty to look after their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by what they do, to cooperate with their employer and other duty holders, and to report anything they identify as dangerous. In practice, individual worker liability rarely becomes the focus of an investigation unless there was clear and deliberate disregard for instruction, but it exists as a legal duty nonetheless.

A role cannot be left vacantIf a client fails to formally appoint a principal designer or principal contractor on a project that requires one, the law does not let the duty simply disappear. It falls back on the client by default. This is one of the more common ways a commercial client ends up holding liability they assumed had been passed to their contractor, simply because the appointment was never formalised in writing.

How liability actually plays out, by scenario

The framework above is the legal theory. In practice, who ends up answering for a specific incident depends heavily on the facts. Here is how responsibility typically falls across common strip out scenarios.

Asbestos found that wasn't on the survey
Depends heavily on whether the survey was reasonably thorough. If the surveyor failed to access an area they should have, the surveying company may be liable for a negligent survey. If access genuinely was not possible and this was documented, liability is more limited. Either way, the principal contractor is responsible for stopping work immediately and managing the find safely once it is discovered, regardless of how it got missed.
Structural wall removed that turns out to be load bearing
Primarily the contractor's responsibility if they failed to verify structural status before removal, which is a basic and well established requirement. If a structural survey was commissioned and gave incorrect information, the structural engineer shares liability. The client can also carry some responsibility if they instructed removal of an element without allowing time or budget for proper structural verification.
Worker injured on site
The worker's direct employer carries primary responsibility for their safety, training and supervision. The principal contractor is responsible for the overall safety of the site and coordination between trades. If the injury resulted from a site-wide failure, such as inadequate edge protection or an unsafe access route, responsibility shifts more heavily toward the principal contractor regardless of who employed the injured worker.
Damage to a neighbouring or retained part of the building
Usually the contractor carrying out the works in that area, through their public liability insurance. If the damage resulted from the client instructing a change in scope or method against the contractor's advice, some liability can shift back toward the client. This is exactly why written instructions and a documented method statement matter.
Waste disposed of illegally by a subcontractor
The legal Duty of Care for waste sits with whoever produces it, which in practice usually means the principal contractor. If they subcontracted waste removal to an unlicensed carrier, they remain liable even though someone else physically dumped the waste. The client can also face scrutiny if they failed to check that their appointed contractor held proper waste carrier credentials in the first place.
Fire caused by hot works or an electrical fault during strip out
Depends on cause. If a hot works permit system was not followed or fire watch was inadequate, the contractor carrying out the hot works is primarily liable. If the fault relates to existing building services that were not properly isolated before work began, liability can extend to whoever was responsible for isolation, which may be the client's own facilities team if isolation was meant to happen before the contractor arrived.
Project runs over programme, causing knock on cost to the client
This is a contractual matter rather than a health and safety one, and is governed by the contract between client and contractor rather than CDM. Liability depends on whether the delay was caused by contractor performance, by a genuine unforeseen issue such as asbestos discovered mid works, or by the client changing scope. This is why a clear written contract with a defined programme and a change control process matters as much as the safety paperwork.

Where personal, criminal liability applies

Most of what happens when something goes wrong on a strip out is dealt with through insurance and civil claims. But CDM breaches, particularly serious ones, are criminal matters, not just commercial disputes. This distinction matters and it is worth understanding clearly.

  • The Health and Safety Executive investigates serious incidents, including any incident that results in serious injury, and can prosecute the responsible company under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and CDM 2015.
  • Individual directors and managers can be prosecuted personally, not just the company, where it can be shown the offence was committed with their consent, connivance or was attributable to their neglect.
  • Unlicensed asbestos removal or a failure to survey before strip out is a specific offence under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, investigated and enforced separately from general CDM breaches.
  • Illegal waste disposal, including fly tipping of strip out waste, can result in prosecution under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, with fines and in serious cases custodial sentences for individuals involved.
  • Penalties scale with severity. Fines for corporate bodies are unlimited under sentencing guidelines and are set based on the size of the organisation and the seriousness of the breach. Custodial sentences apply in the most serious cases, particularly where there was a fatality.
Why documentation is your actual protectionIn an HSE investigation, the paper trail matters enormously. A properly appointed principal contractor, a Construction Phase Plan that was actually followed, RAMS that were briefed to the workforce and signed, and evidence that surveys were commissioned and acted on all demonstrate that duties were taken seriously. The absence of this paperwork does not just look bad. It is frequently the thing that determines whether an incident is treated as an unfortunate accident or as a systemic failure to comply with the law.

What insurance actually covers, and what it doesn't

Insurance is not the same thing as legal responsibility, but it is how most incidents actually get resolved financially. Understanding what each policy covers helps you check your contractor is properly protected, and helps you understand what is not covered before you need to find out the hard way.

Insurance type What it covers Who should hold it
Public liability Injury to third parties or damage to third party property arising from the works. The most important policy for most strip out incidents. The contractor and any subcontractor operating independently on site.
Employers liability Injury to the contractor's own employees. A legal requirement in the UK for any business with employees. Every employer on site, including subcontractors with their own staff.
Contractors all risk Damage to the works themselves and materials on site, including accidental damage during the strip out process. Usually the principal contractor, sometimes arranged by the client for larger projects.
Professional indemnity Negligent advice or design, such as an incorrect asbestos survey or a flawed structural assessment. Surveyors, engineers and any consultant providing advice the works rely on.
Environmental liability Costs arising from pollution or contamination caused by the works, including improper waste handling. Increasingly required on larger commercial projects, particularly where hazardous materials are involved.
What insurance will not fixA criminal prosecution for a CDM or asbestos breach proceeds regardless of whether insurance pays out on the financial side. Insurance settles the compensation question. It does nothing for the separate question of whether the HSE decides to prosecute. Do not assume a well insured contractor is automatically a well compliant one. Ask for both.

How to protect yourself as the client

You cannot eliminate risk on a strip out project, but you can make sure liability lands where it should rather than defaulting to you because something was not properly set up. This is the practical checklist.

1
Formally appoint your principal designer and principal contractor in writing

Do not leave this informal or assumed. If the project requires these roles and they are not appointed in writing, the duty defaults back to you.

2
Check insurance and accreditation before appointing anyone

Ask for evidence of public liability, employers liability and any professional indemnity relevant to the scope. Check CHAS, Constructionline or equivalent accreditation is current, not just claimed.

3
Provide accurate pre-construction information

If you know about existing surveys, previous incidents, or known hazards in the building, share them. Withholding relevant information you hold is itself a breach of your client duties under CDM.

4
Allow sufficient time and budget for surveys before work starts

Rushing the pre-construction phase to save time is one of the most common ways clients unknowingly increase their own liability. Time pressure that leads to a skipped survey is a client-level failure.

5
Keep instructions in writing

If you ask for a change in scope or method during the works, put it in writing and get the contractor's acknowledgement. Verbal instructions given under time pressure are exactly what creates disputed liability later.

6
Do not instruct work to proceed against contractor advice without documenting it

If your contractor raises a concern and you decide to proceed anyway, that decision and the reasoning behind it should be recorded. It protects both parties if something later goes wrong.

Questions we get asked a lot

The key points

Liability on a strip out project is not a single answer sitting with one party. It is distributed across client, principal designer, principal contractor, individual contractors and workers, and more than one of them can be liable for the same incident depending on what actually happened and why. Appointing a contractor reduces your exposure but it does not eliminate it, because your own duties as the client exist independently of theirs.

  • Formally appoint your principal designer and principal contractor in writing, every time
  • Check insurance and accreditation before appointing anyone, not after
  • Share everything you know about the building before work starts
  • Allow proper time for surveys rather than compressing the programme to save a few days
  • Keep instructions and decisions in writing throughout the project
  • Remember that insurance settles compensation, it does not prevent prosecution for a genuine breach