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- An Introduction for Clients
- wishing to undertake
- Construction Work
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- The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM2007) come
into force on 6 April 2007
- They replace the:
- Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 and
- Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996
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- The revised CDM Regulations will introduce the following changes:
- Clarify construction client responsibilities when they are exercising
their influence over the health and safety standards on their projects.
- Planning Supervisor replaced by CDM co-ordinator
- Emphasise the importance of competence at all levels
- Drive out needless health and safety paperwork and bureaucracy
- Simplify when a project is notifiable, and formal plans and
appointments are required
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- CDM2007 is divided into five parts.
- Part 1 - Interpretation and application
- Part 2 - General management duties which apply to all construction
projects
- Part 3 - Additional management duties which apply to notifiable
projects
- Part 4 - Covers physical safeguards which need to be provided to
prevent danger on all construction sites
- Part 5 - Civil liability; transitional provisions and amendments and
revocations of other legislation
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- To integrate H&S into the management of the project and to encourage
everyone involved to work together to:
- improve the planning & management from the very start
- identify hazards early on, so they can be eliminated or reduced at the
design or planning stage
- target effort where it can do the most good in terms of H&S
- discourage unnecessary bureaucracy.
- [CDM2007 ACOP P.2]
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- CDM2007 is intended to focus attention on planning and management
throughout construction projects, from design concept onwards. The aim
is for health and safety considerations to be treated as an essential,
but normal part of a project’s development – not an afterthought or
bolt-on extra
- [CDM2007 ACOP P.3]
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- CDM2007 shall apply to and in relation to construction work.
- The duties under Part 3 shall apply only where a project is notifiable;
and is carried out for or on behalf of, or by, a client.
- Part 4 shall apply only in relation to a construction site.
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- “construction work” means the carrying out of any building, civil
engineering or engineering construction work …..but does not include the
exploration for or extraction of mineral resources or activities
preparatory thereto carried out at a place where such exploration or extraction
is carried out.
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- the construction, alteration, conversion, fitting out, commissioning,
renovation, repair, upkeep, redecoration or other maintenance
(including cleaning which involves the use of water or an abrasive at
high pressure or the use of corrosive or toxic substances),
de-commissioning, demolition or dismantling of a structure;
- the preparation for an intended structure, including site clearance,
exploration, investigation (but not site survey) and excavation, and
the clearance or preparation of the site or structure for use or
occupation at its conclusion;
- the assembly on site of prefabricated elements to form a structure or
the disassembly on site of prefabricated elements which, immediately
before such disassembly, formed a structure;
- the 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; and
- the 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.
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- Under CDM2007 a project is notifiable if the construction phase is
likely to involve more than:
- 30 days; or
- 500 person days,
- of construction work.
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- A client is an organisation or individual for whom a construction
project is carried out.
- Clients only have duties when the project is associated with a business
or other undertaking (whether for profit or not).
- Domestic clients are a special case and do not have duties under CDM2007
- Domestic clients are people who have work done on their own home or the
home of a family member, that does not relate to a trade or business,
whether for profit or not. It is
the type of client that matters, not the type of property.
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- “construction site” includes any place where construction work is being
carried out or to which the workers have access, but does not include a
workplace within it which is set aside for purposes other than
construction work;
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- Clients must make sure that:
- Appointment: Check competence and resources of all appointees
- Management Arrangements: Ensure there are suitable management
arrangements for the project including welfare facilities
- Welfare: Ensure there are suitable arrangements for welfare facilities
- Time: Allow sufficient time and resources for all stages
- Pre Construction Information: Provide pre-construction information to
designers and contractors
- Appointment: designers, contractors and others that they propose to
engage are competent, adequately resourced and appointed early enough
for the work they have to do
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- Clients must make sure that designers, contractors and other team
members that they propose to engage are competent (or work under the
supervision of a competent person), are adequately resourced and
appointed early enough for the work they have to do
- Guidance on assessing competence is given in paragraphs 193-240 of the
Approved Code of Practice to CDM2007 and later in this presentation
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- Clients must only employ designers who are competent to carry out their
CDM duties.
- Further help with assessing competence of designers is given in
paragraphs 193-240 of the Approved Code of Practice to CDM2007
- [CDM2007 ACOP P.47]
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- Clients must take reasonable steps to ensure that suitable management
arrangements are in place throughout the life of the project so that the
work can be carried out safely and without risk to health.
- The arrangements put in place should focus on the needs of the
particular job and should be proportionate to the risks arising from the
work
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- The client will need to ensure that arrangements are in place to ensure
that:
- there is clarity as to the roles, functions and responsibilities of
members of the project team
- duty holders have sufficient time and resource to comply with their
duties
- there is good communication, co-ordination and co-operation between
project team members
- designers are able to confirm that their designs have taken account of
the requirements of CDM2007 Regulation 11 and that the different design
elements will work together in a way which does not create risk
- that the contractor is provided with the pre-construction information
- contractors are able to confirm that health and safety standards on
site will be controlled and monitored, and welfare facilities will be
provided by the contractor from the start to end of the construction
phase
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- Clients do not have to provide welfare arrangements for construction
workers, but if there are particular constraints which make it
particularly difficult for facilities to be provided, the client should
co-operate with contractors to assist them with their arrangements
- On notifiable projects the client must ensure that the construction
phase does not start until the Principal Contractor has made suitable
arrangements for suitable welfare facilities to be present from the
start of the construction phase
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- Unrealistic deadlines and a failure to allocate sufficient funds are two
of the largest contributors to poor control of risk on site
- When engaging designers and contractors, and for notifiable projects
appointing CDM co-ordinators and principal contractors, clients have to
consider the resources (for example staff,equipment and, particularly,
time) needed to plan and do the work properly
- Any contractors who are being considered for appointment should be
informed of the minimum time period allowed to them for planning and
preparation before construction work begins on site
- Contractors should be given sufficient time after their appointment to
allow them to plan the work and mobilise the necessary equipment (for
example welfare facilities) and staff to allow the work to proceed
safely and without risk to health
- [CDM2007 ACOP P.45]
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- Clients must provide designers and contractors who may be bidding for
the work (or who they intend to engage), with the project-specific
health and safety information needed to identify hazards and risks
associated with the design and construction work. (The pre-construction
information)
- Clients who already have a health and safety file from earlier work, or
who have previously carried out surveys or assessments, including
assessments and plans under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006,
may already have all, or much of the information needed. However, where
there are gaps in this information, the client should ensure that these
are filled by commissioning surveys or by making other reasonable
enquiries
- It is not acceptable for clients to make general reference to hazards
which might exist - for example that ‘…. there may be asbestos present
in the building’. Clients should carry out the necessary surveys in
advance and provide the necessary information to those who need it.
- The pre-construction information provided should be sufficient to ensure
that significant risks during the work can be anticipated and planned
for. It should concentrate on those issues that designers and
contractors could not reasonably be expected to anticipate or identify,
and not on obvious hazards such as the likelihood that the project would
involve work at height.
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- In addition on notifiable projects clients must:
- Appoint CDM Co-ordinator
- Appoint Principal Contractor
- Make sure that the construction phase does not start unless there are
suitable:
- welfare facilities in place, and
- construction phase plan in place
- Provide information relating to the health and safety file to the CDM
co-ordinator
- Retain and provide access tothe health and safety file
- Ensure that there is a CDM co-ordinator and principal contractor until
the end of the construction phase
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- The client must the CDM co-ordinator as soon as practicable after
initial design work or other preparations for construction work have
begun
- For notifiable projects, if a client does not make these appointments
they become legally liable for the work that the CDM co-ordinator and
principal contractor should do, as well as for not making the
appointments.
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- The Regulations require the appointment to take place as soon as is
practicable after initial design work or other preparation for
construction work has begun.
- This allows the client to appraise their project needs and objectives,
including the business case and any possible constraints on development
to enable them to decide whether or not to proceed with the project
before appointing the CDM co-ordinator
- The CDM co-ordinator needs to be in a position to be able to co-ordinate
design work and advise on the suitability and compatibility of designs,
and therefore they should be appointed before significant detailed
design work begins
- Significant detailed design work includes preparation of the initial
concept design and implementation of any strategic brief.
- [CDM2007 ACOP P.66]
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- Getting the right people for the role of CDM co-ordinator and making
early appointments is particularly important as they will need to rely
on the advice given by the CDM-C on matters relating to the competence
of those who they intend to appoint, and the adequacy of the management
arrangements made by appointees
- As with other duty holders client must ensure that CDM-C they appoint is
competent and adequately resourced.
- Guidance on the assessment of competence of a CDM co-ordinator can be
found in paragraphs 193-240 of the Approved Code of Practice to CDM2007
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- The CDM co-ordinator provides clients with a key project advisor in
respect of construction health and safety risk management matters. Their
main purpose is to help clients to carry out their duties; to
co-ordinate health and safety aspects of the design work and to prepare
the health and safety file.
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- give suitable and sufficient advice and assistance to clients in order
to help them to comply with their duties, in particular:
- the duty to appoint competent designers and contractors; and
- the duty to ensure that adequate arrangements are in place for managing
the project
- notify HSE about the project
- co-ordinate design work, planning and other preparation for construction
where relevant to health and safety
- identify and collect the pre-construction information and advise the
client if surveys need to be commissioned to fill significant gaps
- promptly provide in a convenient form to designers, the principal
contractor and such parts of the pre-construction information which are
relevant to each
- manage the flow of health & safety information between clients,
designers and contractors
- advise the client on the suitability of the initial construction phase
plan and the arrangements made to ensure that welfare facilities are on
site from the start
- produce or update a relevant, user friendly, health and safety file
suitable for future use at the end of the construction phase.
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- On notifiable projects, clients must appoint one competent, adequately
resourced principal contractor to plan, manage and monitor the
construction
- The principal contractor can be an organisation or an individual
- A principal contractor’s key duty is to co-ordinate and manage the
construction phase to ensure the health and safety of everybody carrying
out construction work, or who is affected by the work.
- There can only be one principal contractor at any one time.
- To ensure continuity, clients should normally keep the same principal
contractor for the whole project from site clearance and preparation to
final completion. However, there may be exceptions, for example where:
- preliminary works, for example involving demolition or site preparation
work, where there is a substantial delay between site clearance and the
start of new construction work;
- separate projects for different clients, for example for a building
shell and subsequent fitting-out work
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- For notifiable projects, before construction work begins clients must
check to ensure that the construction phase plan has been prepared by
the principal contractor
- With the help of the CDM co-ordinator, clients must ensure that the plan
is project-specific and suitable
- Guidance on the content of the construction phase plan is given in the
CDM2007 ACOP Appendix 3
- Once the construction phase has begun, neither clients nor CDM
co-ordinators have a duty to check that the plan is updated; this is the
responsibility of the principal contractor
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- For notifiable projects, the health and safety file (‘the file’) is a
source of information that will help to reduce the risks and costs
involved in future construction work, including cleaning, maintenance,
alterations, refurbishment and demolition
- Clients therefore need to ensure that the file is prepared and kept
available for inspection in the event of such work
- It is a key part of the information, which the client, or the client’s
successor, must pass on to anyone preparing or carrying out work to
which CDM2007 applies
- As soon as a CDM-C is appointed, clients should discuss and agree a
suitable, user-friendly format for the file and what type of information
it should contain
- At the end of the construction phase, normally at practical completion,
the file must be finalised and given to the client by the CDM-C
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- To be competent, an organisation or individual must have:
- sufficient knowledge of the specific tasks to be undertaken and the
risks which the work will entail
- sufficient experience and ability to carry out their duties in relation
to the project; to recognise their limitations and take appropriate
action in order to prevent harm to those carrying out construction
work, or those affected by the work
- Organisations and individuals will need specific knowledge about the
tasks they will be expected to perform, and the risks associated with
these tasks. This will usually come from formal or ‘on the job’
training.
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- Competency assessments of organisations (including principal
contractors, contractors, designers and CDM co-ordinators) should be
carried out as a two-stage process:
- Stage 1: An assessment of the company’s organisation and arrangements
for health and safety to determine whether these are sufficient to
enable them to carryout the work safely and without risk to health
- Stage 2: An assessment of the company’s experience and track record to
establish that it is capable of doing the work; it recognises its
limitations and how these should be overcome and it appreciates the
risks from doing the work andhow these should be tackled
- In order to provide more consistency in the way in which competency
assessments of companies are carried out, a set of ‘core criteria’ have
been agreed by industry and HSE. These are set out in Appendix 4 of the
Approved Code of Practice to the CDM2007
- Stage 1 and Stage 2 assessments should be made against these core
criteria.
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- Health and safety policy and organisation for health and safety
- Arrangements
- Competent Advice –Corporate and Construction related
- Training and Information
- Individual Qualifications and Experience
- Monitoring, Audit and Review
- Workforce involvement
- Accident reporting and enforcement action; follow up investigation
- Sub-contracting/consulting procedures
- Hazard elimination and risk control (Designers only)
- Risk assessment leading to a safe method of work (Contractors only)
- Cooperating with others and coordinating your work with that of other
contractors (Contractors)
- Welfare Provision (Contractors)
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- Standard to Achieve
- You are expected to have and implement an appropriate policy, regularly
reviewed, and signed off by the Managing Director or equivalent.
- The policy must be relevant to the nature and scale of your work and
set out the responsibilities for health and safety management at all
levels within the organisation
- Examples of Evidence Required
- A signed, current copy of the company policy (indicating when it was
last reviewed and by whose authority it is published)
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- Standard to Achieve
- These should set out the arrangements for health and safety management
within the organisation and should be relevant to the nature and scale
of your work. They should set out how the company will discharge their
duties under CDM 2007. There should be a clear indication of how these
arrangements are communicated to the workforce
- Examples of Evidence Required
- A clear explanation of the arrangements which the company has made for
putting its policy into effect and for discharging its duties under CDM
2007
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- Standard to Achieve
- Your organisation, and your employees, must have ready access to
competent health and safety advice, preferably from within your own
organisation
- The advisor must be able to provide general health and safety advice,
and also (from the same source or elsewhere) advice relating to
construction health and safety issues
- Examples of Evidence Required
- Name and competency details of the source of advice, eg a safety group,
trade federation, or consultant who provides health and safety
information and advice
- An example from the last 12 months of advice given and action taken
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- Standard to Achieve
- You should have in place, and implement, training arrangements to
ensure your employees have the skills and understanding necessary to
discharge their duties as Contractors or Designers. You should have in
place a programme for refresher training, eg a Continuing Professional
Development programme or life long learning which will keep your
employees updated on new developments and changes to legislation or
good health and safety practice. This applies throughout the
organisation- from Board or equivalent, to trainees.
- Examples of Evidence Required
- Headline training records
- Evidence of a H&S training culture including records, certificates
of attendance and adequate H&S induction training for site based
workforce.
- Evidence of an active CPD programme.
- Sample ‘tool box talks’.
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- Standard to Achieve
- Employees are expected to have the appropriate qualifications and
experience for the assigned tasks, unless they are under controlled and
competent supervision.
- Examples of Evidence Required
- Details of qualifications and/or experience of specific corporate post
holders;
- Other key roles should be named or identified and details of relevant
qualifications and experience provided.
- FOR CONTRACTORS: details of number/percentage of people engaged in the
project who have passed a construction health and safety assessment;
- For site managers, details of any specific training such as the
Construction Skills CITB ‘Site Management Safety Training Scheme’
certificate or equivalent;
- For professionals, details of qualifications and/or professional
institution membership;
- For site workers, details of any relevant qualifications or training
such as S/NVQ certificates;
- Evidence of a company based training programme suitable for the work to
be carried out.
- FOR DESIGN ORGANISATIONS- details of number/percentage of people
engaged in the project who have passed a construction health and safety
assessment;
- Details of any relevant qualifications and/or professional Institution
membership and Any other specific qualifications such as ICE
construction H&S Register, NEBOSH Construction Certificate, APS
Design Register;
- Evidence of a clear commitment to training and the Continuing
Professional Development of staff.
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- Standard to Achieve
- You should have a system for monitoring your procedures, for auditing
them at periodic intervals, and for reviewing them on an on-going basis
- Examples of Evidence Required
- Could be through formal audit or discussions/reports to senior
managers.
- Evidence of recent monitoring and management response.
- Copies of site inspection reports (Contractors).
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- Standard to Achieve
- You should have, and implement, an established means of consulting with
your workforce on health and safety matters.
- Examples of Evidence Required
- Records of HS Meetings/Committees.
- Names of appointed safety representatives (trades union or other);
- For those employing <5, be able to describe how you consult with
your employees to achieve the consultation required.
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- Standard to Achieve
- You should have records of all RIDDOR reportable events for at least
the last 3 years. You should also have in place a system for reviewing
all incidents, and recording the action taken as a result.
- You should record any enforcement action taken against your company
over the last 5 yrs, and the action which you have taken to remedy
matters subject to enforcement action
- Examples of Evidence Required
- Evidence showing the way in which you record and investigate accidents
and incidents;
- Records of last 2 accidents/incidents and action taken to prevent
recurrence;
- Records of any enforcement action taken over the last 5 years, and what
action was taken to put matters right; (Information on enforcement
taken by HSE over the last 5 years is available on the HSE website)
- For larger companies, simple statistics showing incidence rates of
major injuries, over three-day injuries, reportable cases of ill-health
and dangerous occurrences for the last three years.
- Records should include any incidents that occurred whilst the company
traded under a different name, and any incidents that occur to direct
employees or labour only subcontractors.
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- Standard to Achieve
- You should have arrangements in place for appointing competent
sub-contractors/consultants;
- You should be able to demonstrate how you ensure that sub contractors
will also have arrangements for appointing competent sub-contractors or
consultants.
- You should have arrangements for monitoring sub-contractor performance
- Examples of Evidence Required
- Evidence showing how you require similar standards of competence
assessment from sub contractors;
- Evidence showing how you monitor sub-contractor performance;
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- [Designers Only]
- Standard to Achieve
- You should have, and implement, arrangements for meeting your duties
under regulation 11 of CDM2007
- Examples of Evidence Required
- Evidence showing how you:
- Ensure co-operation and co-ordination of design work within the design
team and with other designers/contractors;
- Ensure that hazards are eliminated and any remaining risks controlled;
- Ensure that any structure which will be used as a workplace will meet
relevant requirements of the Workplace (Health Safety and Welfare)
Regulations 1992.
- Examples showing how risk was reduced through design.
- A short summary of how changes to designs will be managed
- (Note: the emphasis here should be on practical measures which reduce
particular risks arising from the design, not on lengthy procedural
documentation highlighting generic risks.)
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- [Contractors Only]
- Standard to Achieve
- You should have procedures in place for carrying out risk assessments
and for developing and implementing safe systems of work/ method
statements.
- Examples of Evidence Required
- Evidence showing how the company will identify significant HS risks and
how they will be controlled.
- Sample risk assessments/ safe systems of work/method statements;
- If you employ less than5 persons and do not have written arrangements,
you should be able to describe how you achieve the above.
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- Standard to Achieve
- You should be able to illustrate how cooperation and coordination of
your work is achieved in practice, and how you involve the workforce in
drawing up method statements /safe systems of work.
- Examples of Evidence Required
- Evidence could include for sample risk assessments, procedural
arrangements, project team meeting notes.
- Evidence of how the company co-ordinates its work with other trades
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- [Contractors Only]
- Standard to Achieve
- You should be able to demonstrate how you will ensure that appropriate
welfare facilities will be in place before people start work on site
- Examples of Evidence Required
- Evidence could include for example health and safety policy commitment;
contracts with welfare facility providers; details of type of welfare
facilities provided on previous projects
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- Work experience
- Standard to Achieve
- You should give details of relevant experience in the field of work for
which you are applying
- Examples of Evidence Required
- A simple record of recent projects/contracts should be kept, with the
phone numbers /addresses of contacts who can verify that work was
carried out with due regard to health and safety.
- This should be sufficient to demonstrate your ability to deal with the
key health and safety issues arising from the work you are applying
for.
- Where there are significant shortfalls in your previous experience, or
there are risks associated with the project which you have not managed
before, an explanation of how these shortcomings will be overcome.
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- Stage 1 - Stage Knowledge and experience
- Area 1: Task knowledge appropriate for the tasks to be undertaken. May
be technical or managerial.
- Area 2: Health and safety knowledge sufficient to perform the task
safely, by identifying hazard and evaluating the risk in order to
protect self and others, and to appreciate general background.
- Stage 1 - Field of knowledge and experience
- Area 1: The design and construction process.
- Area 2: Health and safety in construction.
- Stage 1 - Examples of attainment
- Area 1: Professionally Qualified to Chartered level (Note 1).
Membership of a relevant construction institution, for example CIBSE;
ICE; IEE; IMechE; IStructE; RIBA; CIAT; CIOB.
- Area 2: Validated CPD in this field, and typical additional
qualification for example: NEBOSH Construction Certificate; Member of
health and safety register administered by the ICE (Note 2); Membership
of Association for Project Safety; Membership of Institution of
Construction Safety (formerly the Institution of Planning Supervisors).
- Stage 2
- Experience and ability sufficient to perform the task, (including where
appropriate an appreciation of constructability), to recognise personal
limitations, task-related faults and errors and to identify appropriate
actions.
- Experience relevant to the task. Evidence of significant work on
similar projects with comparable hazards, complexity and procurement
route.
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- Generally: CDM & CHSW combined: new Regulations restructured by
dutyholder and to show general duties and those only applicable to
notifiable projects
- Application: No change in that the CDM 2007 Regulations apply to all
construction work (domestic and non-domestic); but minor clarification
changes to some definitions, e.g. “client”, “construction work” and
“structure”
- Notification: 5 person rule no longer applies. Domestic projects no
longer need to be notified
- Appointment: Simplified trigger for appointments of Principal Contractor
(PC), CDM Coordinator (CDM-C) and preparation of H&S plan and file
- Demolition: Demolition is treated in the same way as any other
construction activity, except a written plan is required for all
demolition work.
- Competence: those appointing or engaging need to ensure duty holder
competence and the duty holders themselves ensure they are competent to
take on the role. New, simplified assessment guidelines in the ACoP.
- Clients: Enhanced duty to ensure that the arrangements other duty
holders have made are sufficient to ensure the health and safety of
those working on the project. Must tell PC and contractors they appoint
how much time they have allowed, before work starts on site, for
appointees to plan and prepare for the construction work. Removal of
formal provision allowing appointment of Client’s Agent and transfer of
CDM liability.
- Designers: New duty to eliminate hazards and reduce remaining risks, so
far as is reasonably practicable. New duty on designers to ensure that
any workplace they design complies with relevant sections of the
Workplace (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
- Planning Supervisor: No longer exists. Replaced by the CDM Co-ordinator
(CDM-C)
- CDM Co-ordinator (CDM-C): New empowered duty holder, to provide the
client with suitable and sufficient advice to help and advise the
client; to co-ordinate the planning and design phase and to prepare the
health and safety file.
- Principal Contractor: No substantial changes to duties. Must tell those
they appoint how much time they have allowed, before work starts on
site, for appointees to plan and prepare for the construction work.
- Contractor: No substantial changes to duties
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- The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 are available
on the Office of Public Sector Information website at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si200703.htm
- The CDM 2007 Regulations are supported by an Approved Code of Practice
(ACoP) "Managing Health and Safety in Construction", (ISBN
9780717662234) which was published on 27 February 2007, priced at
£15. The ACoP is available through HSE Books, PO Box 1999,
Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2WA. Tel: 01787 881165 or fax: 01787 313995.
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- An Introduction for
- Construction Designers
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- Designers are in a unique position to reduce the risks that arise during
construction work, and have a key role to play in CDM2007. Designs
develop from initial concepts through to a detailed specification, often
involving different teams and people at various stages. At each stage,
designers from all disciplines can make a significant contribution by
identifying and eliminating hazards, and reducing likely risks from
hazards where elimination is not possible.
- [Paragraph 109 CDM 2007 ACOP]
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- Designers’ responsibilities extend beyond the construction phase of a
project. They also need to consider the health and safety of those who
will maintain, repair, clean, refurbish and eventually remove or
demolish all or part of a structure as well as the health and safety of
users of workplaces
- [Paragraph 111 CDM 2007 ACOP]
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- Designers should:
- make sure that they are competent and adequately resourced to address
the health and safety issues likely to be involved in the design
- check that clients are aware of their duties
- when carrying out design work, avoid foreseeable risks to those involved
in the construction and future use of the structure, and in doing so,
they should eliminate hazards (so far as is reasonably practicable,
taking account of other design considerations) and reduce risk
associated with those hazards which remain
- provide adequate information about any significant risks associated with
the design
- co-ordinate their work with that of others in order to improve the way
in which risks are managed and controlled.
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- Designers have to weigh many factors as they prepare their designs.
Health and safety considerations have to be weighed alongside other
considerations, including cost, fitness for purpose, aesthetics,
buildability, maintainability and environmental impact
- CDM2007 allows designers to take due account of other relevant design
considerations. The Regulations do not prescribe design outcomes, but
they do require designers to weigh the various factors and reach
reasoned, professional decisions.
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- Designers are required to avoid foreseeable risks ‘so far as is
reasonably practicable, taking due account of other relevant design
considerations’.
- The greater the risk, the greater the weight that must be given to
eliminating or reducing it.
- Designers are not expected to consider or address risks which cannot be
foreseen, and the Regulations do not require zero risk designs because
this is simply impossible.
- Designers must not produce designs that cannot be constructed,
maintained, used or demolished in reasonable safety
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- In addition to the duties outlined above, when the project is
notifiable, designers should:
- ensure that the client has appointed a CDM co-ordinator
- ensure that they do not start design work other than initial design
work unless a CDM co-ordinator has been appointed
- co-operate with the CDM co-ordinator, principal contractor and with any
other designers or contractors as necessary for each of them to comply
with their duties. This includes providing any information needed for
the pre-construction information or health and safety file.
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- Significant detailed design work includes preparation of the initial
concept design and implementation of any strategic brief. As a scheme
moves into the detailed design stage, it becomes more difficult to make
fundamental changes that eliminate hazards and reduce risks associated
with early design decisions
- [Paragraph 66 CDM 2007 ACOP]
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