Practice Management - 08 CDM and Health & Safety

8.         CDM and Health & Safety

Health & Safety Executive (HSE)

·       Aim to protect the health, safety and welfare of employees, and to safeguard others, principally the public, who may be exposed to risk from work activity

·       It aims to attribute the responsibility of reducing risk to the people who are a best positioned to reduce it in the different phases of a construction project.

·       This is implemented in three ways

1.     Guidance documents – interpret and help people understand the law

2.     Approved Codes of Practice – offer practical examples of good practice

3.     Regulations – identify risk and set our specific actions that must be taken to prevent

Regulations – CDM 2007 (updated in 2015)

·       Aim of CDM2007 is to integrate health and safety into the management of the project and to encourage everyone involved to work together to improve planning, identify hazards early on, target effort and discourage unnecessary bureaucracy

·       The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM Regulations) are intended to ensure that health and safety issues are properly considered during a project’s development so that the risk of harm to those who have to build, use and maintain structures is reduced.

·       They were introduced in 1994 and came into force on 31 March 1995 following publication of European Directive 92/57/EEC on minimum safety and health standards for temporary or mobile construction sites.

·       In JCT SBC11, under clause 3.23 each party to the contract must agree to comply with all their obligations under CDM regulations 2007.  The CDM co-codination and principle contractor are names under Articles 5 and 6.  Clause 3.23.1 places a contractual obligation on the Employer to ensure that the CDM co-ordinator is appointed.

Where projects are notifable (lasting for longer than 30 days or 500 man hours) the client/ employers responsibilities include:

Client / Employer obligation:

·       appoint a CDM co-ordinator

·       appoint a principal contractor

·       make sure that construction work does not start unless a construction phase plan is in place and there are adequate welfare facilities on site

·       provide information relating to the health and safety file to the CDM co-ordinator

·       retain and provide access to the health and safety file

Principle Contractor (usually the General Contractor is appointed into the is role under JCT SBC11)

·       plan, manage and monitor construction phase in liaison with contractor

·       prepare, develop and implement a written plan and site rules (Initial plan completed before the construction phase begins)

·       give contractors relevant parts of the plan

·       make sure suitable welfare facilities are provided from the start and maintained throughout the construction phase

·       check competence of all appointees

·       ensure all workers have site inductions and any further information and training needed for the work

·       consult with the workers

·       liaise with CDM co-ordinator regarding ongoing design

·       secure the site

CDM Co-ordinator (often the architect is appointed this role)

·       The role of the CDM co-ordinator is to provide the client with a key project adviser in respect of construction health and safety risk management matters.  They should assist and advise the client on appointment of competent contractor and the adequacy of management arrangements

·       advise and assist the client with their duties

·       notify details of the project to HSE as soon as possible

·       co-ordinate health and safety aspects of design work and co-operate with others involved with the project

·       facilitate good communication between the client, designers and contractors

·       liaise with the principal contractor regarding on-going design work

·       identify, collect and pass on pre-construction information

·       prepare/update the health and safety file

Architect Responsibilities

·       Provide information needed for the health and safety file

·       Advice the client on their CDM obligations ie. The appointment of a CDM co-oridnator at the outset of a project.

·       When carrying out design work, avoid foreseeable risks to those involved in the construction and future use of the structure but eliminating hazards and reduce risk associated with hazards that remain.  The greater the risk the greater the weight that must be given to eliminating of reducing it.

·       Encourage the Client to appoint Principle Contractor as early as possible to help identify construction risks in the design process, buildablity assessments and construction phase plan

·       Allow for sufficient time in schedule for risk assessments, surveys etc

Health and Safety file  - Prepared by the CDM co-ordinator or updated if one already exists

·       A rolling file that provides information allowing future works to the building to be carried out safety and is a requirement under Regulation 10 of the CDM Regs.

·       The health and safety file must be appropriate to the characteristics of the project and include a level of detail proportionate to the risk

·       Normally keep for the life time of the building and should be kept up to date

·       Contents includes:

·       Brief description of the work carried out

·       Residual hazards

·       Key structural principles

·       Hazardous materials used

·       Health and safety information regarding maintenance and cleaning

·       As-builts

Pre-construction information – Provided by the client to the design / contractor

·       Purpose of this is to provide information for those bidding for or planning work and for the development of the Construction Phase Plan

·       This is information in the client’s possession, and passed on by the design team and CDM coordinator, which is relevant to the construction work and is of an appropriate level of detail proportionate to the risk involved.

·       The architect must take account of the pre-construction information when preparing the design.

·       The approved code of practice suggests this should include:

1.     Detailed description of the project

2.     Clients consideration and management requirements

3.     Environmental restrictions and existing onsite risks

4.     Significant design and construction hazards

5.     The Health and Safety file

Construction phase plan developed by the Principle Contractor

·       The construction phase plan sets out how health and safety will be managed during the construction of the project.

·       Construction phase plan is a requirement of the CDM regulations 2007 and must be developed by the principal contactor before any work on site can proceed to comply with Regulation 23(1). 

·       The client needs to provide enough time in the programme for this to be developed, therefore it is advantageous to get a principle contractor on board as soon as possible

·       Should be specific to the project, concise and easy to understand and should include:

1.     A description of the work

2.     Roles and responsibilities and how the work will be managed

3.     Arrangements for controlling significant site and health risks ie. Delivery and removal of material, dealing with services, stability of structures, preventing falls, removal of asbestos, reducing noice etc

4.     Pre-construction issues

5.     Assessment of risks

6.     Arrangements of managing risk

7.     Emergency procedures

8.     Circumstances under which risk assessments or method statements should be prepared

9.     The Health and Safety File

Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

·       The main requirement on Employers is to carry out a risk assessment.  Employers with five or more employees need to record the significant findings of the risk assessment