Working clauses as the foundation for responsible construction

What does it take for a working clause to actually work? Construction clients, contractors, municipalities, advisors, and industry organisations met to surface what is working, what is missing, and where the sector can align around shared minimum standards. With the entreprenørstop in force since January 2026, a single subcontractor’s repeated breaches can shut down an entire site – clauses are now the first line of defence for responsible companies and the central instrument for protecting workers across complex supply chains.

• Byggeriets Samfundsansvar (FBSA): three paradigm clauses – working, apprenticeship, and employment – that operationalise the EU Taxonomy’s social Minimum Safeguards, backed by guides and tools for clients and contractors.
• Fælles Ansvar (Poul Schmith/Kammeradvokaten and partners): free, standardised clauses built on chain responsibility and due diligence, with an escalating sanctions ladder and a risk-screening tool. The premise: integrity pays.
• Odense Municipality: more than a decade of enforcement experience – a clause is only as strong as the infrastructure behind it (risk assessment, unannounced inspections, conversations with workers on site, sanctions).

• Clauses are necessary but not sufficient. Documentation, on-site presence, and sanctions must be designed as one system, not a list.
• The sector wants shared tools and a shared direction. Shareable checklists, GDPR-compliant digital systems, data-matching across registers – and, several noted, a common starting point: a shared clause.
• Leadership and culture matter as much as the legal text. Anchoring the work in management and treating it on a par with health and safety are the conditions for change.

The contractual foundation is more developed than the conversation suggests – the gap is in adoption, follow-up, and shared infrastructure, not legal text. Responsibility runs through the entire supply chain, where the most serious risks sit. And the case for responsible practice needs to be made more clearly and backed by evidence.

Workshop 2 – “Tackling Social Dumping: How do we take collective responsibility?” – takes place 25 August 2026 at BLOX, moving from the contractual foundation to everyday life on the building sites. We want it shaped by the people in the room. Send your questions, cases, and input on how to take the work forward to andreia.fidalgo@ihrb.org by 14 August. 

Thank you to everyone who took part on 11 May.