Construction (Design And Management) Regulations 2007

Guidance to Client

The revised Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM) came into force from 6 April 2007, following consultation with the construction industry. Here we explain what it all means.

The introduction of CDM in March, 1995 represented a major change in the way health and safety was managed for construction projects. The revised regulations will incorporate the provisions of both CDM and the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 (CHSW) into one set of regulations. The revision represents much more than a legal tidying up exercise. Underlying all the changes is one simple aim: to reduce construction accidents and ill health.

While the on-site safety requirements are almost unchanged, there are significant changes to CDM. Here are the main revisions:

Place construction clients in a position where they can have greater influence over the health and safety standards of their project.

Replace the role of planning supervisor with a new role of CDM co-ordinator. The co-ordinator will be empowered by the Client, and will act as the Client's key advisor for effective communication and co-ordination of health and safety information.

Emphasise the importance of competence at all levels in securing health and safety benefits, while simplifying the assessment of competence.

Drive out needless paperwork and bureaucracy that had become associated with CDM 1994. Paperwork should be project-specific, relevant, proportionate to the risk, and of real use in helping to manage the risk. If not, it will not be required.

Simplify when a project is notifiable. Projects will be notifiable if they will last more than 30 days or 500 person days. No projects for a domestic client will be notifiable.

So, what are the main things to expect after April, 2007?

Clients or their CDM co-ordinator should assess all the people they appoint (including designers and contractors) to make sure they are competent to carry out their work without risk to health and safety. The same will apply to other people making any appointments.

The Client will provide relevant health and safety information about the project and site prior to construction. The Client should also allow sufficient time to enable the proper planning and preparation for the work on site.

The onus will be on the Client to take reasonable steps to ensure that designers and Contractors have suitable overall arrangements in place to be able to manage the construction work safely, and that adequate welfare provisions have been made.

Those who are involved in design work will need (so far as is reasonably practicable) to eliminate any hazards and reduce the risk from any remaining hazards. They will need to avoid foreseeable risks for the construction, cleaning and future maintenance. Designers involved in designing a structure to be used as a place of work will also need to comply with the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.

The provisions relating to health and safety on site are not significantly different. However, there will be a specific requirement on the Principal Contractor to havearrangements to consult with the workers on site, which is seen as being essential for a safety culture to develop. Contractors can also expect more detailed enquiries from Clients to demonstrate their competence.

Clients can unintentionally or unwittingly take on additional responsibilities. If they specify materials or methods of working, they may well become designers in relation to those specific matters. They will also legally be contractors if they manage or carry out construction work. Similarly for projects notifiable to the HSE, a Client failure to formally make either of the statutory appointments of CDM Co-ordinator and Principal Contractor, means that the Client becomes legally liable for the work that the statutory appointees do, as well as the failure to make the statutory appointments.

There has been a significant improvement in construction safety since the introduction of CDM 1994, although occupational health improvements have been harder to achieve. The experience of the last 11 years has shaped these revisions, which will provide the construction industry with the opportunity, and the means, to make the next step-change in health and safety performance.

Guidance is now published and available:

Managing health and safety in construction

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

Approved Code of Practice L144 ISBN 978 07176 6223 4 £15.00

Client Duties

CDM 2007 Regulations 4-10

What clients must do for all projects

Clients must make sure that:

a) designers, contractors and other team members that they propose to engage are competent (or work under the supervision of a competent person), are adequately resourced and appointed early enough for the work they have to do. Guidance on assessing competence is given in paragraphs 193-240;

b) they allow sufficient time for each stage of the project, from concept onwards;

c) they co-operate with others concerned in the project as is necessary to allow other dutyholders to comply with their duties under the Regulations;

d) they co-ordinate their own work with others involved with the project in order to ensure the safety of those carrying out the construction work, and others who may be affected by it;

e) there are reasonable management arrangements in place throughout the project to ensure that the construction work can be carried out, so far as is reasonably practicable, safely and without risk to health. (This does not mean managing the work themselves, as few clients have the expertise and resources needed and it can cause confusion);

f) contractors have made arrangements for suitable welfare facilities to be provided from the start and throughout the construction phase;

g) any fixed workplaces (for example offices, shops, factories, schools) which

are to be constructed will comply, in respect of their design and the materials used, with any requirements of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 19

h) relevant information likely to be needed by designers, contractors or others to plan and manage their work is passed to them in order to comply with Regulation 10. (Clients duty in relation to information).

Clients Duties

CDM 2007 Regulations 14, 15, 16 and 17

Things clients must do for notifiable projects

62. For notifiable projects, in addition to the duties set out above, clients must:

a) appoint a CDM Co-ordinator to advise and assist with their duties and to coordinate the arrangements for health and safety during the planning phase;

b) appoint a Principal Contractor to plan and manage the construction work -

preferably early enough for them to work with the designer on issues relating to buildability, usability and maintainability;

c) ensure that the construction phase does not start until the Principal Contractor has prepared a suitable construction phase plan and made arrangements for suitable welfare facilities to be present from the start of the work;

d) make sure the health and safety file is prepared, renewed, or updated ready for handover at the end of the construction work. Thls must then be kept available for any future construction work or to pass on to a new owner. Getting the right people for these roles and making early appointments is particularly important for clients with little construction or health and safety expertise, as they will need to rely on the advice given by the CDM Co-ordinator on matters relating to the competence of those who they intend to appoint, and the adequacy of the management arrangements made by appointees. For notifiable projects, if a client does not make these appointments they become legally liable for the work that the CDM Co-ordinator and Principal Contractor should do, as well as for not making the appointments.

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