CDM Regulations and the construction industry

CDM Regulations and the construction industry

The new Construction Design and Management (CDM) regulations 2015 came into force on 6 April, following a five-year evaluation of the CDM regulations 2007. The new regulations will have significant implications for all those involved in construction.

James Ritchie, Association of Project Safety, comments: "By far the biggest challenge to the construction industry will be around implementation of CDM and coordinating health and safety on the smaller projects where this has not been required up until now.

"The next biggest problem will be around ensuring that designers who take on the principal designer role have no only good technical ability but also sufficient skills, knowledge and ability in terms of design and construction health and safety risk management. I am not sure how many of them have ‘clocked’ that when the new CDM Regulations ask for skills, knowledge and experience, it means health and safety skills, knowledge and experience not just technical design."

James explains that safety and health practitioners, and the health and safety industry, can assist with the implementation of CDM 2015 by taking a considered approach to construction health and safety risk management.

"This approach relies on those construction health and safety practitioners who advise clients, contractors and designers, to ensure that they are not creating unnecessary bureaucracy in order to ‘cover backsides’.

"There is, and will be, a need for good clear risk management advice on larger or more complex projects and health and safety practitioners, who have a good understanding of the design and construction process and how to coordinate health and safety, will have an important part to play in the delivery of CDM2015."

James will be presenting a panel debate on CDM at the Safety & Health Expo in June.

For further information visit SHP Online.

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