CDM Regulations 2015: Duties and Compliance

What This Requirement Covers

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015) are the principal regulations for managing health, safety, and welfare on construction projects in Great Britain. CDM applies to all construction work, from minor domestic projects to major infrastructure. The regulations assign specific duties to clients, designers, principal designers, contractors, and principal contractors.

Key Requirements

When CDM Applies

1. CDM applies to all construction work in Great Britain
2. Additional duties (notification and appointment of principal designer/contractor) apply to projects with:

- More than one contractor, OR - A construction phase lasting more than 30 working days with more than 20 workers at any one time, OR - More than 500 person-days of construction work

Duty Holders

1. Client: The person or organisation for whom the project is carried out. Must make suitable arrangements for managing the project, ensure adequate time and resources, and appoint a principal designer and principal contractor where required
2. Principal Designer: Must plan, manage, and monitor the pre-construction phase, identify and eliminate or reduce risks through design, and prepare the health and safety file
3. Principal Contractor: Must plan, manage, and monitor the construction phase, prepare the construction phase plan, and coordinate the work of all contractors on site
4. Designers: Must eliminate hazards and reduce risks through design decisions, and provide information about residual risks to other duty holders
5. Contractors: Must plan, manage, and monitor their own work to ensure it is carried out safely

Key Documents

1. Construction Phase Plan: Must be prepared by the principal contractor before the construction phase begins, setting out the arrangements for managing health and safety on site
2. Health and Safety File: Must be prepared by the principal designer and passed to the client on completion; contains information needed for future maintenance, cleaning, and construction work on the building
3. Pre-Construction Information: Must be provided by the client to every designer and contractor, containing information about existing hazards, previous construction, and site-specific risks

Domestic Clients

1. Domestic clients (homeowners commissioning work on their own home) have CDM duties, but these are automatically transferred to:

- The contractor (on single-contractor projects), or - The principal contractor (on multi-contractor projects)

1. Unless the domestic client makes a written declaration to take on the duties themselves

Notification

1. Projects meeting the notification thresholds must be notified to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) before the construction phase begins
2. Notification is made using the F10 form (or online via the HSE website)

Practical Compliance Tips

1. Identify the duty holders at the start of every project, regardless of size
2. The principal designer role should be filled by someone with the skills, knowledge, and experience to identify and manage design risks; it is not automatically the architect
3. Ensure the construction phase plan is project-specific and practical, not a generic template
4. Designers should record their risk assessments and design decisions, particularly where hazards have been designed out or reduced
5. The health and safety file should be a useful document for the building owner, containing as-built information, residual risk information, and maintenance requirements
6. For domestic projects, ensure the contractor understands that CDM duties transfer to them automatically
7. CDM compliance is enforced by the HSE; non-compliance can result in enforcement notices, fines, and prosecution