Changes to CDM (Construction, Design and Management) Regulations

Revisions to the Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations (1994) (CDM 94) come in to force on the 6th April 2007.

Since CDM 94 was introduced in 1995, concerns have been raised that their complexity and the bureaucratic approach of many duty holders, frustrate the Regulations underlying Health and Safety objectives. The new simplified CDM Regulations will revise and bring together the existing CDM 1994 and the Construction (Health Safety and Welfare) (CHSW) Regulations 1996 into a single regulatory package. They will be supported by an Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) and industry-approved guidance. To give construction and design professionals time to plan and prepare for the regulatory changes, the ACoP will be available before the Regulations come into force.

The main changes to the new regulations include:

(i) Enhanced duties to be fulfiled by the client, designers, the principal contractor, and other  contractors.

There is a new definition of the "client", and a loss of the previous "client's agent". The pre-construction information to be provided by the client will now include:

- Existing information known to the client.
- Information needed by designers and contractors for their work.
- Other information ‘which is reasonably obtainable’.
- Information concerning the proposed use of the structure as a workplace
- The minimum amount of time before the construction phase which will be allowed to the contractors for their planning and  preparation work.

With regard to Designer duties, the main additional change is to hold Designers responsible in these
Regulations for ‘risks to the Health and Safety of any person using the structure as a workplace’. Knowing that any structure is inevitably a workplace for someone, this brings a new area of criminal responsibility to CDM Designers. In terms of competence, Designers have to judge their own competence before accepting any appointment from a client, and also meet new competence criteria set out in the CDM ACoP.

When the construction phase is underway the principal contractor has new duties to ‘manage and monitor the construction phase’ and to ensure that every other contractor ‘is informed of the minimum amount of time which will be allowed to them for planning and preparation’ before construction work starts. In addition, the Principal Contractor is under an enhanced duty to ‘ensure that every worker is provided with (a) a suitable site induction (b) information and training by the contractor on whom the duty is  placed by these Regulations and (c) any further information and training which is required on the  particular work to be carried out without undue risk to Health and Safety’.

(ii) The role and function of the planning supervisor disappears and a new role and duties of the "CDM co-ordinator" are established.

- A greater emphasis is now placed on the collection and dissemination of pre-construction information and liaison between Designers and the Principal Contractor during the actual construction works. The old duty of the Planning Supervisor to ensure that the Designers have complied with their duties is now transferred to the new "CDM co-ordinator". To reinforce the newness of the role the new CDM Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) contains a detailed specification of the individual competence necessary to fulfil this role.

We advise that further information and reading on the new CDM Regulations and Approved Code of Practice can be specifically obtained from the HSE Website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm.htm