EPI Health and Safety

The Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM 2007) came into force on 6 April 2007.

Everyone in construction needs to know about the new construction health and safety regulations.

CDM 2007 will help you to:

The information on these web pages will help you understand what you need to do under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 which came into force in April 2007 and what happens if you don't.

CDM 2007 places legal duties on virtually everyone involved in construction work.

Those with legal duties are commonly known as ‘duty-holders’.

Duty-holders under CDM 2007 are:

Clients - A 'client' is anyone having construction or building work carried out as part of their business. This could be an individual, partnership or company and includes property developers or management companies for domestic properties.
CDM co-ordinators - A 'CDM co-ordinator' has to be appointed to advise the client on projects that last more than 30 days or involve 500 person days of construction work. The CDM co-ordinator's role is to advise the client on health and safety issues during the design and planning phases of construction work.
Designers - The term 'designer' has a broad meaning and relates to the function performed, rather than the profession or job title. Designers are those who, as part of their work, prepare design drawings, specifications, bills of quantities and the specification of articles and substances. This could include architects, engineers and quantity surveyors.
Principal Contractors - A 'principal contractor' has to be appointed for projects which last more than 30 days or involve 500 person days of construction work. The principal contractor's role is to plan, manage and co-ordinate health and safety while construction work is being undertaken. The principal contractor is usually the main or managing contractor for the work.
Contractors - A 'contractor' is a business who is involved in construction, alteration, maintenance or demolition work. This could involve building, civil engineering, mechanical, electrical, demolition and maintenance companies, partnerships and the self-employed.
Workers - A ’worker’ is anyone who carries out work during the construction, alteration, maintenance or demoliton of a building or structure. A worker could be, for example, a plumber, electrician, scaffolder, painter, decorator, steel erector, as well as those supervising the work, such as foreman and chargehands.

Summary of all duty-holder's roles and responsibilities

Legal requirements

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM 2007) came into force in Great Britain on 6 April 2007.

The new CDM 2007 Regulations are divided into 5 parts:

Part 1 deals with the application of the Regulations and definitions.
Part 2 covers general duties that apply to all construction projects.
Part 3 contains additional duties that only apply to notifiable construction projects, i.e. those lasting more that 30 days or involving more than 500 person days of construction work.
Part 4 contains practical requirements that apply to all construction sites.
Part 5 contains the transitional arrangements and revocations.

To view the CDM Regulations 2007:

The new CDM 2007 regulations are supported by an Approved Code of Practice (ACoP).

Background to CDM 2007 Regulations

Construction remains a disproportionately dangerous industry where improvements in health and safety are urgently needed. The improvements require significant and permanent changes in dutyholder attitudes and behaviour. Since the original CDM Regulations were introduced in 1994, concerns were raised that their complexity and the bureaucratic approach of many duty holders frustrated the Regulations’ underlying health and safety objectives. These views were supported by an industry-wide consultation in 2002 which resulted in the decision to revise the Regulations.

The new CDM 2007 Regulations revise and bring together the CDM Regulations 1994 and the Construction (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 into a single regulatory package.

What happens if I don’t comply with my duties under CDM 2007?

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

You are more likely to have a dangerous or fatal accident while your construction work is carried out if you do not ensure that the CDM 2007 Regulations are followed. In addition, your finished structure may not be safe to use, safe to maintain and may not deliver you good value for money.

Construction is a high-risk industry. Around one third of all workplace fatalities occur in construction and many thousands are injured each year. Such incidents often have a significant and long lasting effect on the individuals, their colleagues, family, friends and business. By following CDM 2007, you will be helping to stop this from happening.

HSE staff are there to give help and advice, particularly to smaller businesses who may not have a lot of knowledge. When they do find problems they will aim to deal with you in a reasonable and fair way.

However, serious breaches of health and safety legislation on your construction project could result in construction work having to be stopped by HSE or your local authority and additional work maybe needed to rectify matters. In the most serious circumstances you may be prosecuted.

What will happen in the first year?

It is recognised that people and businesses will take time to familiarise themselves with the new CDM 2007 Regulations, whose principle aim is to reduce the risk to health and safety during construction as well as the subsequent use, maintenance and demolition.

HSE’s focus will be on what is achieved in common practice not the detail of how it is achieved or the associated documentation.

HSE will enforce CDM 2007 in accordance with the Health and Safety Commission’s (HSC) published Enforcement Policy Statement. ‘Enforcement’ has a wide definition, ranging from advice, to more formal sanctions and prosecution. The principles of the enforcement policy are: Proportionality, Targeting, Consistency, Transparency and Accountability. HSE will focus on serious problems and not trivialities

What’s in it for me?

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

The new CDM Regulations aim to help you ensure that your construction project is safe to build, safe to use, safe to maintain and delivers good value by:

helping you to reduce bureaucracy and paperwork - making the focus planning and management, rather than the plan and other paperwork ;
simplifying the Regulations to improve clarity – so making it easier for duty holders to know what is expected of them;
encouraging more integration - strengthening the requirements regarding co-ordination and co-operation, particularly between designers and contractors;
simplifying the assessment of competence (both for organisations and individuals) to help raise standards and reduce bureaucracy; and
maximising their flexibility – to fit with the vast range of contractual arrangements.

Over the coming year HSE will be working with the construction industry to develop practical examples and real life experiences for showing the benefits that CDM 2007 has for everyone involved in construction.

Clients: roles and responsibilities

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

All those who work in the construction industry have their part to play looking after their own health and safety and in improving the industry’s health and safety record.

A CDM client is someone who is having construction or building work carried out, unless they are a domestic client. A domestic client is someone who lives, or will live, in the premises where the work is carried out. The premises must not relate to any trade, business or other undertaking. Although a domestic client does not have duties under CDM, those who work for them on construction projects will.

On all projects clients will need to:

Check competence and resources of all appointees
Ensure there are suitable management arrangements for the project welfare facilities
Allow sufficient time and resources for all stages
Provide pre-construction information to designers and contractors

Where projects are notifiable under CDM 2007, clients must also:

Appoint a CDM co-ordinator
Appoint a principal contractor
Make sure that construction work does not start unless a construction phase plan is in place and there are adequate welfare facilities on site
Provide information relating to the health and safety file to the CDM co-ordinator
Retain and provide access to the health and safety file

What work needs to be notified?

CDM 2007 requires most construction work to be notified to HSE.

Notification will be required if the project, commonly referred to as a ‘construction project’ is likely to:

Last longer than 30 days or
Involve more than 500 persons days of construction work.

Any day on which construction work is carried out (including holidays and weekends) should be counted, even if the work on that day is of short duration. A ‘person day’ is one individual, including supervisors or specialist trades, carrying out construction work for one normal working shift.

Construction work for a domestic client is not notifable. A domestic client is someone who lives, or will live, in the premises where the work is carried out. The premises must not relate to any trade, business or undertaking.

What information needs to be notified?

Details of what is required to be notified is included in Schedule 1 of the CDM regs. A form - the F10 [PDF] can be used to make notification easier.

Who needs to notify?

The CDM co-ordinator for the work is required to send the notification.

When and where should it be sent?

The notification should be sent to the HSE office covering the site where construction work is to take place as soon as possible after the CDM co-ordinator has been appointed by the client.

CDM co-ordinators: roles and responsibilities

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

All those who work in the construction industry have their part to play looking after their own health and safety and in improving the industry’s health and safety record.

A CDM co-ordinator is only required where the project is notifiable.

Advise and assist the client with his/her duties
Notify details of the project to HSE
Co-ordinate health and safety aspects of design work and cooperate with others involved with the project
Facilitate good communication between the client, designers and contractors
Liaise with principal contractor regarding ongoing design work
Identify, collect and pass on pre-construction information
Prepare/update health and safety file

Designers: roles and responsibilities

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

All those who work in the construction industry have their part to play looking after their own health and safety and in improving the industry’s health and safety record.

On all projects designers will need to:

Eliminate hazards and risks during design
Provide information about remaining risks

Where projects are notifiable under the Regulations, designers must also:

Check that the client is aware of their duties and that a CDM co-ordinator has been appointed
Provide information needed for the health and safety file

Principal contractors: roles and responsibilities

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

All those who work in the construction industry have their part to play looking after their own health and safety and in improving the industry’s health and safety record.

A principal contractor is only required where the project is notifiable.

The principal contractor needs to:

Plan, manage and monitor construction phase in liaison with contractor
Prepare, develop and implement a written plan and site rules (Initial plan completed before the construction phase begins)
Give contractors relevant parts of the plan
Make sure suitable welfare facilities are provided from the start and maintained throughout the construction phase
Check competence of all appointees
Ensure all workers have site inductions and any further information and training needed for the work
Consult with the workers
Liaise with CDM co-ordinator regarding ongoing design
Secure the site

Contractors: roles and responsibilities

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

All those who work in the construction industry have their part to play looking after their own health and safety and in improving the industry’s health and safety record.

On all projects contractors will need to:

Plan, manage and monitor their own work and that of their workers
Check the competence of all their appointees and workers
Train their own employees
Provide information to their workers
Ensure that there are adequate welfare facilities for their workers

In addition, where projects are notifiable under the Regulations, contractors must also:

Check that the client is aware of their duties, check that a CDM co-ordinator has been appointed and ensure that HSE has been notified before the work starts
Co-operate with the principal contractor in planning and managing work, including reasonable directions and site rules
Provide details to the principal contractor of any contractor engaged in connection with carrying out work
Provide any information needed for the health and safety file
Inform the principal contractor of any problems with the plan
Inform the principal contractor of reportable accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences

Workers: roles and responsibilities

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

All those who work in the construction industry have their part to play looking after their own health and safety and in improving the industry’s health and safety record

All employees or self-employed persons on construction sites should be better informed and have the opportunity to be more involved in health and safety.

You can do this by:

Ensuring you only carry out construction work you are competent to do.
Reporting obvious risks.
Co-operating with others and co-ordinate work so as to ensure your own health and safety and others who may be affected by the work.
Following site health and safety rules and procedures

The Approved Code of Practice (ACoP)

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

The Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) has special legal status and gives practical advice for all those involved in construction work. If you follow the advice in the ACoP you will be doing enough to comply with the law in respect of those specific matters on which it gives advice.

The ACoP explains:

The legal duties placed on clients, CDM co-ordinators, designers, principal contractors, contractors, self-employed and workers.
The circumstances in which domestic clients do not have duties under CDM 2007 (but that the regulations still apply to those doing work for them).
Gives information on the new role of CDM co-ordinator – a key project advisor for clients and responsible for coordinating the arrangements for health and safety during the planning phase of larger and more complex projects.
Which construction projects need to be notified to HSE before work starts and gives information on how this should be done.
How to assess the competence of organisations and individuals involved in construction work.
How to improve co-operation and co-ordination between all those involved in the construction project and with the workforce.
What essential information needs to be recorded in construction health and safety plans and files, as well as what shouldn’t be included.

The ACoP also includes a copy of the CDM 2007 Regulations.

Please contact us if you would like a copy of the ACOP

Summary of duties under the CDM regulations under CDM 2007

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007

	All construction projects (Part 2 of the Regulations)	Additional duties for notifiable projects (Part 3 of the Regulations)
Clients (excluding domestic clients)	Check competence and resources of all appointees Ensure there are suitable management arrangements for the project welfare facilities Allow sufficient time and resources for all stages Provide pre-construction information to designers and contractors	Appoint CDM co-ordinator* Appoint principal contractor* Make sure that the construction phase does not start unless there are suitable welfare facilities and a construction phase plan is in place. Provide information relating to the health and safety file to the CDM co-ordinator Retain and provide access to the health and safety file *( There must be a CDM co-ordinator and principal contractor until the end of the construction phase)**
CDM co-ordinators		Advise and assist the client with his/her duties Notify HSE Co-ordinate health and safety aspects of design work and cooperate with others involved with the project Facilitate good communication between client, designers and contractors Liaise with principal contractor regarding ongoing design Identify, collect and pass on pre-construction information Prepare/update health and safety file
Designers	Eliminate hazards and reduce risks during design Provide information about remaining risks	Check client is aware of duties and CDM co-ordinator has been appointed Provide any information needed for the health and safety file
Principal contractors		Plan, manage and monitor construction phase in liaison with contractor Prepare, develop and implement a written plan and site rules (Initial plan completed before the construction phase begins) Give contractors relevant parts of the plan Consult with the workers Liaise with CDM co-ordinator regarding ongoing design Secure the site
Contractors	Plan, manage and monitor own work and that of workers Check competence of all their appointees and workers Train own employees Provide information to their workers Comply with the specific requirements in Part 4 of the Regulations Ensure there are adequate welfare facilities for their workers	Check client is aware of duties and a CDM co-ordinator has been appointed and HSE notified before starting work Co-operate with principal contractor in planning and managing work, including reasonable directions and site rules Provide details to the principal contractor of any contractor whom he engages in connection with carrying out the work Provide any information needed for the health and safety file Inform principal contractor of problems with the plan Inform principal contractor of reportable accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences
Workers/ everyone	Check own competence Co-operate with others and co-ordinate work so as to ensure the health and safety of construction workers and others who may be affected by the work Report obvious risks

Link to HSE Offices:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/maps/index.htm