CDM 2015 – Be Aware

Updated health and safety legislation came into effect on 6 April with clients and construction firms facing ‘greater liability’ under the new rules. Construction law expert Charles Brien from top-50, national law firm HBJ Gateley explains what to look out for.

The new Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, are intended to reduce the number of accidents on construction sites, place greater responsibility on clients for the conduct and decisions of the people they employ to oversee health and safety. Construction clients, consultants or contractors with inadequate health and safety standards, face increased liability and risk of legal action following the introduction of new legislation. 

The regulations are designed to reduce accidents on construction sites. Now, construction clients are required by law to meet a number of requirements in ensuring health and safety on construction projects. They must:

• Assemble a competent professional team and ensure that the roles of team members are clear
• Ensure sufficient time and resources are allocated at appropriate stages of the project to adequately and appropriately deal with health and safety issues  
• Ensure that there are effective mechanisms in place for project team communication and that they work.  
• Provide suitable welfare facilities for the duration of the construction work. 
  

When a client delegates these responsibilities to a professional team or contractor, it must ensure that such parties have the skill, training, expertise and capacity to carry these out.  If the wrong party is appointed, responsibility may fall on the client. Also the client is required to appoint a ‘principal designer’.  The principal designer will plan, manage and monitor the pre-construction phase and co-ordinate matters relating to health and safety.

This effectively abolishes the previous role of CDM Co-ordinator. Principal designer is a new role with additional responsibilities to that of CDM Co-ordinator, and holders must come from the ranks of designers. This means that existing CDM Co-ordinators will not necessarily be suitable for the role, and firms will need to make sure that they manage the transfer from an existing CDM Co-ordinator to a new principal designer correctly.

For example, if an existing project will continue beyond 6 October, a principal designer will have to be appointed and he will take over the health and safety responsibilities and the existing CDM Co-ordinator must co-operate with the principal designer. The consequences of non-compliance are potentially serious, especially for clients. If it transpires that a client was slipshod in making these appointments, it could be liable for any issues or breaches.

The penalty for non-compliance could range from delays on a project, with the risk of additional costs, to prosecution.  Clients will need to ensure that correct contracts, policies and procedures are in place to cope with the changes. While the new legislation’s designed to simplify health and safety requirements, the onus is now on clients to understand the subtle shift in liability and to change their policies and practices accordingly. 

Ignorance will be no defence, and if clients are found to have fallen short of the expected standard, they may be blocked from continuing a project until they can demonstrate they have changed the way they work.  Additionally, clients will be required to appoint appropriate personnel to fulfil the role of principal designer with immediate effect, and to identify their current construction contracts that will continue beyond 6 October.  If a project’s due to run over this date, there will be a need to appoint a principal designer and manage the transfer from the CDM Co-ordinator to ensure that they are satisfying both the earlier and future requirements.

For more information: www.hbjgateley.com