Next April the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 are due to be replaced by The Construction (Design and Management) Regulation 2015. These new regulations have been created to
improve the industry’s understanding of the statutory requirements and to allow minor adjustments to be made to ensure that the UK regulations continue to meet the requirements of the EU’s Directive for Temporary or Mobile Construction Sites.
This doesn’t give us much time to get our heads around it, - so what exactly will the proposed changes include:-
1. removing the detailed duty to assess the competency of appointed contractors. The old duty will be replaced with a new requirement to ensure appointees have appropriate information, instruction, training and supervision to ensure that construction work is carried out safely. In practice it is imagined that the industry will adopt PAS 91 to fulfil this duty.
2. replacing the CDM coordinator role with that of a principal designer who will be primarily tasked with managing the pre-construction phase.
3. changing the prompt to appoint a principal contractor. In CDM 2007 notification triggered the appointment of a principal contractor. The new requirement will be that “where there is more than one contractor…… working on a project at any time, the client must appoint…..a principal contractor and a principal designer”. The principal contractor will continue to be tasked with taking the lead during the construction phase.
4. removing the ‘Domestic Client’ exclusion which may lead to a number of larger domestic projects becoming notifiable.
5. changing the notification criteria.
Under CDM 2007 the HSE were to be notified of projects where construction work was expected to:
‘Last more than 30 working days or involve more than 500 person days’
The new proposals within CDM 2015 are to make projects notifiable if they:
‘Last more than 30 working days and have more than 20 workers working simultaneously at any point in the project or exceed 500 person days’
It is imagined that this will almost half the number of projects that are currently notifiable. Also important to note is that with the removal of the CDM Coordinator it is proposed that notification will become a new client duty.
6. making a requirement for construction phase plans to be written for all ‘construction work’ (as defined within the regulations) either by the principal contractor if there are a number of contractors or by a single contractor if they are working alone. The need for a construction phase plan was previously triggered by notification.
7. removing the ACOP (approved code of practice) and replacing it with guidance produced in the main by industry with the support of the HSE.
8. creating greater emphasis on consultation, cooperation and engagement with workers.
It must be noted that the consultation period for these draft regulations has only recently ended so there is still much scope for further additions or revocations (hopefully not too many!). However, time is rapidly running out, and if the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 are to be ready to come into force by April 2015 the HSE need to review the comments received from the consultation in a timely manner to allow the Secretary of State to issue the final Statutory Instrument in sufficient time for people to familiarise themselves with exactly what their duties now entail!
CRL places safety at work as a priority for its business and has demonstrated that commercial success can be achieved without putting operatives at risk! Nigel Roper has been CRL’s Health & Safety Adviser since 1999 and was instrumental in CRL being awarded 14 consecutive ROSPA Gold Awards and 4 ROSPA President’s Awards to date. In recognition of Nigel’s contribution to Health & Safety in construction over the years, this year he was personally awarded a RoSPA Guardian Angel Award.
For further information on these changes to CDM please feel free to contact Nigel by email nroper@crl.eu.com
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