In British Columbia, the “prime contractor” is whoever agrees with the site owner to coordinate health and safety across every employer working on a multi-employer construction project — and the moment that agreement is made, WorkSafeBC requires the person taking it on to be qualified for the role.
The rule is set out in OHSR 20.1A: “If a person agrees with the owner to be the prime contractor as provided in sections 13 and 24 of the Workers Compensation Act, then that person must be qualified.” Once that agreement exists, the same Part 20 loads a specific set of duties onto that party. Under OHSR 20.2, WorkSafeBC must receive written notice at least 24 hours before work begins on qualifying projects — including any project where the estimated cost of labour and materials exceeds $100,000 — and a copy of that notice has to be posted at the site.
Two further duties sit specifically with the prime contractor. OHSR 20.2.1 requires a separate 48-hour notice before work involving asbestos or a comparable hazardous substance. And where more than one employer's work overlaps — framers, electricians and plumbers on site the same weeks, for instance — OHSR 20.3 requires the prime contractor to appoint a qualified coordinator and give every employer the site layout drawings and safety procedures before that overlap starts.
Ontario runs the equivalent coordinating role under a different name and a different dollar line: its OHSA calls the role “constructor,” and its own Notice of Project threshold is lower — generally $50,000, or $250,000 for work confined to an automobile-manufacturing factory (see constructor vs. employer duties and notice of project filing). Treating BC's $100,000 trigger as Canada-wide, or assuming “prime contractor” and “constructor” are interchangeable labels for an identical set of duties, both cause real filing mistakes.
A Kelowna developer is building a $650,000 mixed low-rise where framers, electricians and plumbers are on site during the same weeks. Because the estimated cost clears BC's $100,000 Notice of Project threshold, whichever contractor agrees with the owner to be prime contractor must give WorkSafeBC written notice at least 24 hours before work begins and post a copy at the site. Because several employers' work overlaps, that same prime contractor must also appoint a qualified coordinator and hand every employer the site layout drawings and safety procedures under OHSR 20.3 before the framers and electricians are ever on site together. If the project later needs asbestos abatement in an adjoining older structure, that specific work triggers its own 48-hour hazardous-substances notice under OHSR 20.2.1 — a separate filing from the original Notice of Project, not a substitute for it.
See also: Constructor vs. employer duties · Notice of project filing · Using AI for site safety monitoring.
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