The CDM Regulations are changing – Are you ready?

The CDM Regulations (Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015) were implemented on the 6th April 2015.

CDM Regulations were a requirement of an EU Directive and were introduced as an aim to improve Health and Safety in construction. As of the 6th April the role of CDM Co-ordinator has been abolished and a new role of Principal Designer created.

Below is a breakdown of the key changes: 

• Introduction of a new duty on clients to develop the pre-construction information, notify HSE if notifiable and review Construction Phase Health & Safety Plan
• The explicit competency matrix has been replaced with a requirement to ensure those appointed have the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and if an organisation, capability.
• Removal of Domestic Client exemption
• Principal Designer (PD) is now required if more than one contractor (trade) is used during construction.
• If Client does not appoint Principal Designer or Principal Contractor, they are deemed to be fulfilling that role.
• The Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) has not been replaced to date. There are now a suite of guidance documents.
• Contractors may have an involvement in post construction, e.g. information for the H&S file etc
• The chart below shows which phases each should be involved with.

Appointment/Notification Period

The HSE requires a duty to notify project if it is longer than 30 working days and on which more than 20 workers are working simultaneously or it exceed 500 person days.

Clients
The client must notify the project to Health & Safety Executive and provide pre-construction information as soon as practicable. The client needs to ensure that the Principal Designers and Principal Contractors comply, the PC or Contractor produces Construction Phase Plan and the PD prepares the Health & Safety File.

The Principal Designer (PD)

The role of PD will be to plan, manage and monitor the “Pre-Construction Phase” ensuring that risks are eliminated or managed through design work.  Communication and co-operation need to be established to pass information to the PC and assist the client in preparing pre-construction information. The PD also needs to ensure that all designers (contractors, specifiers, Quantity Surveyors, planners, schedulers, environmental scientists, numerical modeller etc.) all comply with their duties.
At the end of each project the Health and Safety file will need to be prepared.

There is a transition period until the 6th October 2015.  When this ends full compliance to CDM 2015 is required.

If Client does not appoint Principal Designer or Principal Contractor, they are deemed to be fulfilling that role

Below is a diagram which shows details of the transition stages:

If you would like to know more about this, please contact our Head of Health, Safety and Environment, Paul Burrows