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Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015

Legislation

Introduction

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015) revoked the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM 2007) on 6 April 2015.

The regulations place specific duties on clients, designers and contractors, to rethink their approach to health and safety, so that it is taken into account throughout the life of a construction project from its inception to its subsequent final demolition and removal.

The regulations are divided into 5 parts;

  1. Part 1 deals with matters of interpretation and application.
  2. Part 2 covers client duties which apply to all construction projects including those for domestic clients.
  3. Part 3 sets out management duties which apply to all other principals on the project, including Principal Designer and Principal Contractor
  4. Part 4 of the regulations apply to all construction work carried out on construction sites, and covers physical safeguards which need to be provided to prevent danger. (Prevoiusly contained within the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996, which were revoked by CDM2007).
  5. Part 5 of the regulations covers issues of enforcement; transitional provisions which apply for up to 6 months after the regulations came into force, and amendments and revocations of other legislation.

CDM 2015 applies to all construction work including work for domestic clients. The client must appoint a competent Principal Designer and Principal Contractor, and a Construction Phase Plan and Health & Safety File must be produced. Duties are also placed on the Client, Designers and Contractors for all projects.

The duties of the CDM Co-ordinator under CDM 2007 have been split between the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor, although the CDM Co-ordinator role may exist until 6th October 2015 if they were already appointed before 6th April 2015.

Duty Holders

Persons with specific duties under the regulations are the Client, the Principal Designer, the Principal Contractor, plus anyone who is Designer orContractor for the project.

Each of these duty holders apart from the client must be 'Competent' to act in the project. Details of the duties of each of the principals and the issues to be decided about competence follow.

The Statutory Documents

The regulations provide for the production of the following documents and plans during the course of the project.

Transitional Arrangements

CDM 2015 recognises that there will be construction projects that start before the Regulations come into force on 6 April 2015 and continue beyond that date. For these projects, the following transitional arrangements apply. Where there is, or is expected to be, more than one contractor on a project:

  • where the construction phase has not yet started and the client has not yet appointed a CDM co-ordinator, the client must appoint a principal designer as soon as practicable
  • if the CDM co-ordinator has already been appointed the client must appoint a principal designer to replace the CDM co-ordinator by 6 October 2015, unless the project comes to an end before then
  • in the period it takes to appoint the principal designer, the appointed CDM co-ordinator should comply with the duties contained in Schedule 4 of CDM 2015. These reflect the duties placed on CDM co-ordinators under CDM 2007 rather than requiring CDM co-ordinators to act as principal designers, a role for which they may not be equipped

Other transitional arrangements are:

In all other circumstances, the requirements of CDM 2015 apply in full from 6 April 2015.

CDM 2015 Part 4

These regulations contain the minimum health & safety standards to be adopted by contractors on construction sites.

Application

The regulations apply to employers whose employees carry out construction work, the self-employed who carry out construction work and those persons who control the way in which construction work is carried out. This latter group could include clients and designers who have a duty to comply with the regulations which relate to their activities. All employees have a duty to comply with the relevant regulations which affect their work and are responsible for their own acts or omissions.

Comfort Provisions

Some of the regulations are concerned with conditions on the site and the comfort of those working there as follows:

Fresh Air (Reg 33)

Every workplace and its approaches must have effective and suitable provision made for its ventilation by a sufficient quantity of fresh, or purified, air.

Any equipment used to comply with the above should be fitted with a device to warn of failure of the equipment.

Where it is believed that the atmosphere of a workplace or its approaches is poisonous or asphyxiating then no person shall be allowed to enter the workplace or its approaches until it has been tested by, or under the direct supervision of, a competent person and he is satisfied that the areas are free from the danger of any person being poisoned or asphyxiated.

Temperature and Weather Protection (Reg 34)

Any place of work covered by the regulations must be maintained at a reasonable temperature, as far as is reasonably practicable, bearing in mind the purpose for which that place is used. Any protective clothing or equipment provided for the use of the persons working there should be suitable for the purpose for which it was designed, including protection from weather.

Lighting (Reg 35)

Every place of work and its approaches together with every traffic route and every dangerous opening must be adequately lit.

Such lighting should be, where possible, by natural light.

At any workstation or on any traffic route where persons at work would be especially exposed to danger should the artificial lights fail, then emergency lighting must be provided which is suitable and sufficient.

Such emergency lighting must not be of such a colour as to adversely affect the perception of any sign or signal provided for health and safety.

Good Order and Site Security (Reg 18)

Every construction site must be arranged so that its extent can be identified and it must be signposted so that it is clearly visible.

Other Requirements

See Also