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Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

Legislation

The CDM 2007 regulations were revoked when CDM 2015 came into force on 6th April 2015.

See Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015)
and the CDM Knowledge Base
for CDM 2015 related information.

Introduction

These regulations were the result of an EU Directive 92/57/EEC (OJ L245, 26.8.92) which was the so called 'Construction Sites Directive'.

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM 2007) revoked the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994, Construction (Design and Management) (Amendment) Regulations 2000 and the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996.

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 general management duties which apply to all construction projects including those which are non notifiable.
  3. Part 3 sets out additional management duties which apply to notifiable projects (projects where the construction phase has a total duration of more than 30 working days or shifts, or the construction processes involves more than 500 person days or shifts.)
  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 are revoked by CDM2007.
  5. Part 5 of the regulations covers issues of civil liability; transitional provisions which will apply during the period when the regulations come into force, and amendments and revocations of other legislation.

CDM 2007 applies to all construction work with the exception of Part 3 of the regulations that only applies if the project is notifiable. On a notifiable project, the client must additionally appoint a competent CDM Co-ordinator and a competent Principal Contractor, a Construction Phase Plan and a Health & Safety File must be produced. Additional duties are also placed on the Client, Designers and Contractors for notifiable projects.

The CDM Co-ordinator is the new title for the Planning Supervisor under CDM 1994, with increased duties and responsibilities.

Duty Holders

Persons with specific duties under the regulations are the Client, the Designer, the Principal Contractor, Other Contractors, and a new duty holder introduced by the regulations; 'The CDM Co-ordinator'.

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.

CDM 2007 Part 4

These regulations, with minor ammendments were what were included in the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996, and 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 42)

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 43)

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 44)

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 27)

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.

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

The remaining main requirements of the regulations are contained in regulations 5 to 22 and 27 to 30.

See Also

The CDM Regulations are published as Appendix 1 to the ACoP. A full copy of the legislative document is available on-line: www.legislation.gov.uk