Health & Safety Executive (HSE) held a ten-week consultation on proposed changes to Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM). The results have been published and the changes to CDM regulations will be enforceable by April 2015.
The consultation was launched with the aim of bringing the UK’s legal obligations into line with the current EU Directive, but the HSE also saw it as an opportunity to streamline construction law and, in their view, make construction policy responsibilities clearer, more transparent and easier to understand. This would have greater benefits for small and medium sized businesses without the resources or the time to study complex policy.
Sales and Marketing Director at HBXL, Jo Mulgrew gives the low-down on the main CDM changes that have been proposed and what impact she thinks they’ll have on builders.
Removal of the current Approved Code of Practice (ACOP)
The HSE believe that the current Approved Code of Practice is often over interpreted. The guidance is 120 pages and the HSE think its length prevents some duty holders from reading it or interpreting it properly. Therefore, the structure of the regulations will be based on a more linear structure, corresponding to the process of a typical construction project and will be simplified significantly so it is more accessible for smaller building firms.
Jo says:
“Many larger contractors approve of the current ACOP. Once the industry has familiarised itself with the new, shortened guidance, the HSE propose to bring in a shorter ACOP for larger contractors who value using one.”
Role of the CDM Coordinator will be replaced by the Principal Designer
The HSE believes the current approach of the CDM Coordinator is ‘often bureaucratic and adds cost with little added value’. This role will therefore be replaced with a Principal Designer role. This role must be filled by someone on the existing team who is in control and knows about the pre-construction phase.
Jo says:
“It’s about integrating health and safety into the early stages of the project. It sounds promising, but I won’t pass judgement for now – we’ll have to wait and see if it’s just the same responsibilities as the Coordinator, but with a different job title.”
CDM Regulation 4 (competence assessments) to be removed
Prequalification Assessments at tender stage are to be scrapped. The assessments test a building firm’s health and safety competence, but the HSE have observed that the regulation ‘elicited an industry response which, in general, is costly and bureaucratic’ and ‘provides a real barrier to small contractors and individuals competing for work’. The HSE predict that, once the competence assessments are removed, contractors will instead increasingly rely on PAS 91 accreditation for the procurement of construction work and over time, savings will be made.
Jo says:
“This is a controversial change, as it is significantly deregulatory and removes the obligation to establish competence in a firm and its individuals. Although HSE can’t quantify the savings that will be made yet, the removal of Regulation 4 looks set to be good news for smaller firms that find the burden of assessment costly and time consuming.”
Domestic client responsibilities to be taken on by the contractor
HSE have proposed the passing of the domestic clients’ basic health and safety duties to the builder. Many domestic clients aren’t knowledgeable or trained in construction health and safety rules so these limited duties will now apply to the builder instead (the deeming approach).
Jo says:
“It sounds like a sensible move from a health and safety point of view, and there was clear industry support for the approach during the consultation (70% agreed with the change), but there are continuing concerns that smaller contractors won’t realise the client duties that would transfer to them.”
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