The process involves the drafting of new legislation and guidance, public consultation, finalisation and implementation.
The CDM Regulations originated from the EU Directive 92/57/EEC of 24 June 1992, which sets out the minimum health and safety requirements for member states to implement on construction sites. It has been suggested that the Government plans to overhaul the CDM Regulations, virtually, ‘copying out’ the Directive, so as to avoid facing infringement proceedings.
Domestic projects could be affected significantly. At present the CDM Regulations apply only to persons who are ‘clients’ i.e. those who undertake construction work as a business. If the definition of client is extended to include homeowners, those undertaking domestic projects such as house builds, extensions, loft conversions or kitchen re-fits may also be captured by the revised CDM Regulations if the project involves more than one contractor and lasts for over 30 days.
Although this change is clearly intended to improve worker safety on domestic sites it is expected to be contentious with concerns over homeowners’ competence.
Among the changes the HSE maybe proposing:
- Removal of the independent CDM Co-ordinator role and placing Design Phase health and safety co-ordination with a 'Principal Designer' (working title);
- Removal of the Appendix 4 Competence Assessment criteria;
- Placing construction phase co-ordination duties with the Principal Contractor;
- Full application of CDM Regulations to all projects with more than one contractor on site (including domestic projects).
HBXL are keeping a close eye on the proposals and will update Health & Safety Xpert once the changes come into force. The software tells you what you need to do to comply and thanks to the automatic software updates issued by HBXL, users are definitely helping themselves to stay safe - and avoid prosecution.
For more information on Health & Safety Xpert visit here.
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