The new Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 which came into force on 6th April will see construction clients, consultants or contractors with inadequate health and safety standards face increased risk of legal action and liability.
Under the CDM Regulations 2015 clients will now need to appoint a Principal Designer and Principal Contractor to fulfil their duties replacing the previous requirement for an official role of CDM coordinator.
The detailed CDM 2015 Regulations set out the law that applies to the whole construction process on all construction projects, from concept to completion and places greater responsibility on clients for the conduct and decisions of the people they employ to oversee health and safety.
Under CDM 2015, organisations or individuals can be one or more dutyholder for a project – including the following:
- Clients -the organisations or individuals for whom a construction project is carried out.
- Designers – who as part of a business, prepare or modify designs for a building, product or system relating to construction work.
- Principal designers - organisation or individuals appointed by the client in projects involving more than one contractor.
- Principal contractors – appointed by the client to coordinate the construction phase of a project where it involves more than one contractor.
- Contractors – companies and individuals who do the actual construction work
- Workers - the people who work for or under the control of contractors on a construction site.
The Regulations emphasise the need for dutyholders to be appointed at the right time. For example, clients must appoint principal designers and principal contractors as soon as practicable and before the start of the construction phase, so they have enough time to carry out their duties to plan and manage the pre-construction and construction phases respectively.
HSE has allowed construction projects that started before the Regulations came into force a period of six months grace to switch over to the new CDM regulations - any projects that started before 6 April will have until 6 October to appoint a principal designer.
CDM 15 acknowledges the key role of the client as the head of the supply chain and with a major influence over the way a project is procured and managed as best placed to set standards throughout a project. Regardless of the size of the project, the client has contractual control, appoints designers and contractors, and determines the money, time and other resources available.
Click here to download the CDM Regulations 2015 and Guidance
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