2022-05-19（245）Engineering law a

21. LIMITATIONS ON ENGINEER’S CONTROL UNDER THIS SUB-CLAUSE AND ALTERNATIVE CONTROL. The engineer has no power under this sub-clause to require the contractor to give information about temporary works except as relevant to the considerations discussed in two previous notes, and his right to refuse consent under this sub-clause is similarly limited (N. 11). For example, the engineer is not specifically entitled to obtain information or refuse consent to ensure that temporary works will not cause damage to neighbouring property, or because temporary works may delay completion (without actually affecting the permanent works when completed), or may fail and cause injury to workmen. Therefore the engineer has rights under this sub-clause in respect of such dangers only in order to enforce requirements that are written into the specification or the drawings. It follows that a comprehensive specification is wise, demanding temporary works that are safe and satisfactory for all purposes. (The effect of the content of the specification on claims is discussed in N. 16.)

In any case it seems that the engineer, even if he has embarked on the procedure under this sub-clause, may supplement his control of temporary works by refusing approval under cl. 13 (2) to works that do not fully meet the contractor’s responsibility under cl. 8(2). It is possible that the engineer has an implied right to information necessary to enable him to decide whether or not to give such approval. Otherwise, he may obtain the information at the tender stage, or from the contractor’s method statement under sub-cl. (1) of this clause, or on the initiative of the contractor or from site inspection.

The possibility of a claim by the contractor under this cl. 14 (6) only arises if the engineer starts the ball rolling by requesting information about the contractor’s methods of construction, etc. for the purpose specified in subcl. (3). The request may be written or oral and casual during a site inspection, but if there is no such request at all this clause does not operate. In particular, in so far as the engineer obtains sufficient information and controls temporary works by way of refusal of approval under cl. 13 (2) (apparently whether or not for the purpose specified in this cl. 14 (3)), leaving it to the contractor to decide on the changes necessary to obtain approval, the contractor has no claim to extra payment under this clause. The rights of the parties under other clauses of the Conditions are discussed on p. 170 and obviously, this negative control of the contractor’s methods will not always be satisfactory to protect the permanent works, but it may be useful if the engineer finds himself harassed by false claims.