CDM regs one year on
June 1st 2008

One year on, work still needs to be done to instil the new CDM 2007 (Construction, Design and Management) Regulations in the minds of employers and individuals across the construction industry, says Kevin Fear, Head of Health, Safety and Environment at Construction Skills

Although the HSE (Health & Safety Executive) is working hard to penetrate those in the industry who are still unaware of the changes to the revised CDM Regulations, it's very difficult at this early stage to measure its success, particularly as the construction industry is so vast.

The CDM Regulations, which came into force on 6 April 2007, aim to help those in the industry better integrate health and safety into the management of their projects through better planning and the appointment of a CDM coordinator.

Clients without construction expertise should rely on the CDM co-ordinator's advice on how best to meet their duties, but the CDM co-ordinator will need the client's support and input to be able to carry out their work effectively.

Someone else's problem

A recent survey showed that 25% of SMEs in the construction industry believed that CDM Regulations did not apply to them. The hardest sector to reach is the domestic building sector. Due to the lack of a corporate client influence, it's far easier for contractors and designers to ignore the requirements of the new CDM Regulations. It's certainly the case that domestic clients do not have any duties under CDM 2007 as do corporate clients, which means they don't need to appoint a CDM coordinator or Principal Contractor. The survey results suggest that quite a high number of designers and contractors working in the domestic market are not aware of their responsibilities, which are outlined in the Approved Code of Practice (ACoP), established by the HSE and the Industry drafted CDM Guidance Documents that are freely available from www.cskills.org/cdm.

Deadlines too tight?

Unrealistic deadlines and a failure to allocate sufficient funds are two of the largest contributors to poor control on-site. The new regulations have meant that clients have needed to, by legal obligation, assign an adequate amount of time to the planning stages of a project and the setting up of a site, including allowing their assigned contractors the time to carry out a thorough risk assessment before the project starts.

The process of changing attitudes and getting the client to acknowledge that more responsibility now lies with them will be a long one. Indeed, the HSE is still finding companies who are not abiding by the 1974 Health & Safety at Work Act, which stated that any firm employing more than five people must have a Health & Safety policy.

ConstructionSkills anticipates it will take around five-toten years before the group of people currently either unaware or being deliberately negligent will move towards the attitude of 'tell me what I need to do to be compliant'.

The new CDM regulations are a work in progress, and what we see at the current time are the green shoots of what we hope to achieve, which is an industry standard that we can each rely on, whether we're a client, a training provider, or a construction company. It's too early to outline where improvements have been made, however, much is going on behind the scenes to help maximise the impact that the CDM Regulations will make.

More articles from Construction Skills: