Construction Design Management Regs

CDM responsibilities and associated roles. Part 1

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CDM Responsibilities

As per Construction Design Management Regulations 2015, there are specific CDM responsibilities and associated roles. Here at Hawkeye Enterprise Ltd, we can support organisations to understand their liability and carry out their obligations by law.

Client

CDM 2015 defines a Client as someone who commissions and requires the construction project to be carried out. As a major change in this legislation, this can now apply to domestic, as well as commercial clients.
Main duties of Client are to ensure:
• There is suitable time, resources and arrangements allocated to manage the project.
• All duty holders are appointed
• Relevant information is prepared and provided to other duty holders in form of Pre-Construction Information pack – PCI
• Principal Designer (PD) and Principal Contractor (PC) carry out their duties
• Adequate welfare facilities are provided

Principal Designer (PD)/Designer

According to CDM 2015, “anyone who specifies and alters designs as part of their work” would be a Designer.
A Principal Designer is only appointed when more than one designer is involved in a construction Project. This normally applies to multi-discipline projects. However, if there is only one Designer required, they shall also take on PD responsibilities.
As part of their CDM responsibilities, PD has a coordinating role. PD shall be responsible for planning, management and monitoring of health and safety in the pre-construction stage of a construction project by
• Methods of identification, elimination or controlling foreseeable risks
• Ensuring designers carry out their duties.
• Finalising and communicating adequate and proportionate information to other duty holders, based on PCI
• Make Client aware of their duties and help Clients with Preparation of PCI and suitable H&S file.

All designers have a duty to assess or modify designs in order to eliminate, reduce or control foreseeable risks that may happen during construction or maintenance and use of an asset after it’s been constructed. Designing out any risks or potential hazards out at an early stage is one of the main objectives of CDM regs.

The PD or Designers are also responsible to provide ongoing support to other members of the project team especially Contractors, to help them fulfil their duties during Construction phase

Your Construction Design Management Regs (CDM) Questions answered

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CDM Compliance

What is Construction Design Management Regs – CDM?

Construction Design management Regs, came into force in 1994, and have gone through 2 revisions, CDM 2015 being the latest one. It applies to all construction projects

 

What is a Construction Project?

According to the regulations, a “Construction Project” can incorporate a wide range of activities.

  • Construction, alteration, conversion, fitting out, commissioning, renovation, repair, upkeep, redecoration or other maintenance de-commissioning, demolition or dismantling of a structure;
  • Preparation for an intended structure, including site clearance, exploration, investigation and excavation, and the clearance or preparation of the site or structure for use or occupation at its conclusion
  • Assembly on site of prefabricated elements to form a structure or the disassembly on site of the prefabricated elements which, immediately before such disassembly, formed a structure;
  • Removal of a structure, or of any product or waste resulting from demolition or dismantling of a structure, or from disassembly of prefabricated elements which immediately before such disassembly formed such a structure;
  • Installation, commissioning, maintenance, repair or removal of mechanical, electrical, gas, compressed air, hydraulic, telecommunications, computer or similar services which are normally fixed within or to a structure,
  • However, there are some exclusion like site surveys and pre-construction archaeological investigations. Exploration for, or extraction of, mineral resources, or preparatory activities carried out at a place where such exploration or extraction is carried out are also not included under CDM regulations

 

Would I need to comply with CDM when carrying out routine maintenance activities?

Technically, yes. However, one of the most important aspects of CDM is the fact that the level of risk management should be proportionate with the level of risk involved. So for examples, for routine maintenance activities, are there already adequate systems in place to provide the right information to a competent person in order to complete the job safely? This could be provided by job-cards, working instructions, procedures and RAMS. If the answer to the question is yes, the chances are, you are already complying with your duties under CDM regs anyway.

 

However, if you have to carry out a major overhaul maintenance activity, requiring cranes and equipment as such, you would need adequate planning etc. to execute the project safely. In such cases, if you need a Pre-Construction Information (PCI) pack or a Construction Phase Plan (CPP) we can help you generate those by utilising our robust CDM process. Why not contact us for more information

 

Where does CDM 2015 come from?

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CDM was introduced in the UK in 1994 and contributed to the reduction o fatal injuries.

Construction Design Management Regulations – CDM, originally came into force in the UK in 1994. It was based on a European “Construction Sites Directive”, key aspects of which were implemented within the Construction Industry.

Construction Industry had long been identified as the one of the most dangerous. Introduction of CDM 94 led to major changes in the in the industry in an attempt to reduce and minimise fatalities and injuries.

By placing duties on Clients and Designers, risk reduction could be achieved with better planning, coordination, cooperation as well as management. Furthermore, for larger projects the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had to be notifies by submitting a F10 form.

In 2007, CDM regs were revamped and enforced in order to make them more suitable and further reduce risks. A new CDM Coordinator role was introduced to assist the Client by offering advice and generally managing the project risks. It was also identified that all associated project hazards, to do with construction, as well as Operation and Maintenance are best designed out at an early stage.

The new regs put big emphasis on competency and demonstration of competency. It also aimed to make the process leaner by cutting out unnecessary paperwork, based on the level of risk involved.

Although this version of the regulations was deemed largely successful, in 2015 the latest revision of the regulations came into force. In CDM 2015, the new regulations now also applied to domestic Clients. The notification period was amended to 30 days with more than 20 persons working on site at the same time. A Construction Phase Plan (CPP) is now required for all projects. There are extra duties on the Client to take adequate steps and ensure that Principle Designer (PD) and Principle Contractor (PC) are complying with their duties.

So, the question is, has CDM regs been a success? Looking at the graph, there is a steady but noticeable drop in the rate of fatal injuries since 1995. Although it is not realistic to credit CDM entirely with this positive outcome, since better construction and risk management methods have also played a part in a safer industry, however, as a whole it is fair to assume that CDM regulations have thus far achieved what they were set out to accomplish.