Regulations
Construction Regulations
What is CDM?
Following its initial introduction in 1994, the Construction Design and Management Regulations (commonly known as CDM Regulations) were re-introduced in April 2007, the revised Regulations are intended to make it easier for those involved in construction projects to comply with their health and safety duties.
The CDM Regulations are aimed at improving the overall management and co-ordination of health, safety and welfare throughout all stages of construction project to reduce the large numbers of serious and fatal accidents and cases of ill health which happen every year in the construction industry.
The Regulations place duties on all those who can contribute to the health and safety of a construction project.
Duties are place upon clients, designers and contractors with more power given to the CDM Coordinator in what is considered a more authorative and policing role.
The new regulations combine the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations (1996) and CDM 1994 into one single set of regulations. However, they also introduce some important changes to the safety regime.
These include:
- A new duty on designers to eliminate hazards and reduce risks, as far as is reasonably practicable. They will also have a duty to ensure that any workplace they design complies with the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992;
- A Client will not longer be able to appoint an agent to take on their legal duties and criminal liabilities, thereby making the CDM Coordinator role more advisory in helping to fulfill their duties to comply with the Regulations
- When principal Contractors appoint contractors, they will have to tell those contractors how much time they have to prepare for on-site work;
- Contractors will have a similar duty towards those they appoint to work on-site, as well as being obligated to plan and manage their own work; and
- The role of Planning Supervisor, which carried responsibility for co-ordinating health and safety aspects of the design and the planning phase of the construction project, is to be replaced by a CDM Project Co-ordinator.
A CDM Co-ordinator, has to be appointed by the client if a project lasts more than 30 days or involves more than 500 person days of work. But, unlike the Planning Supervisor, is required to advise and assist the client on how to fulfill their duties, especially on whether other duty-holders' arrangements are adequate. At the most, only the initial design work for the job should have been completed before the position is filled.