CDM and health and safety

Scope and the aims of CDM

The original regulations were introduced in the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 and the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996. These were incorporated into a single package, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM 2007). However, the HSE has recently been consulting on replacement of CDM 2007.

Key points

  • CDM 2007 aims to ensure that the design considers both safety of construction and subsequent maintenance of the building.
  • Regular inspection of the site is required.
  • Site records need to be as meticulous as possible.
  • The Planning Supervisor is now known as a CDM Coordinator.
  • Additional training is highly recommended.
  • The client's duties have been reinforced; the building's owner/occupier needs to appreciate their role in site safety.

Scope and aims of CDM regulations

CDM 2007 aim to:

  • ensure that designers evolve a design that considers both safety of construction and subsequent maintenance of the building;
  • ensure, as far as possible, that designers cooperate with one another in formulating their designs;
  • provide a health and safety file that can be associated with the building management file (in commercial properties) to:
    • ensure there is a comprehensive range of information available about the original products used and any products subsequently incorporated;
    • assist with maintenance by sourcing new products that are compatible with the old ones; and
    • provide full information of any health and safety risks that may relate to the use of any chemicals, finishes or building fabric.

Basic requirements

Regular inspection of the site is required. Site agents understandably become somewhat sensitive to any criticism, but a good agent understands the need for regular policing and, if necessary, that persistent offenders need to be removed from the site for their own and everybody else's safety.

Site records need to be as meticulous as possible, with sufficient detail to identify exactly which products, paints and fabric have been used in the building and from which particular catalogue – not simply a collection of manufacturers' catalogues recording, somewhere, the specifications which have been used.

When dealing with commercial properties (and to a lesser extent with residential ones) you need to hand over a comprehensive set of records to the client for subsequent reference. This may take the form of either a purchaser's or tenant's pack or, in the case of a commercial or larger residential property such as a block of flats, in the health and safety file and the building maintenance file.

It's more than 'common sense'

At first sight CDM appears to be common sense. Health and safety risks are obvious aren’t they?

Experience on site suggests that common sense may not apply once a construction team is in the thick of it; and simple and obvious precautions can be ignored if there is no rigorous policing on site.

A classic example

A contractor’s mate was painting the skirting boards, working his way backwards towards the (open) lift shaft while chatting with the site manager, who was explaining that he thought health and safety regulations were ‘common sense’ and he had everything under control.

When the author pointed out the hazard, he quickly agreed that it might be wise to block-off the lift shaft before any explanations to a painter’s bereaved wife became necessary.

It is too easy to miss the obvious!

See also the section on CDM Regulations.