CDM regulations come in to force

E013:07 2 April 2007

Following extensive consultation with the construction industry, the new Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM 2007) come in to force on Friday 6 April 2007. Making it easier for duty holders to comply with the requirements, they simplify and clarify existing Regulations.

Through a focus on managing risks on site, reducing paper work, encouraging team work and getting the right people for the right job at the right time, the implementation of these Regulations are expected to see a step change improvement in health and safety performance within the industry.

Construction remains one of the highest risk sectors, with over one fatality occurring each week despite the improvements made in recent years. The revised CDM Regulations aim to improve the level of health and safety performance in the construction industry by clarifying the responsibilities of each duty holder and focusing on effective planning and risk management.

Commenting on what is a landmark for the construction industry this year, Stephen Williams, Chief Inspector of Construction, HSE said: "The industry has worked very closely with HSE to revise the CDM Regulations and ensure that there are clear benefits for all competent dutyholders. The Regulations clarify responsibilities of each duty holder and require greater focus on the risks to be managed by all involved in the construction process. Underlying all the changes is one simple aim - to reduce the unacceptable number of fatalities and injuries in the construction industry."

The revised CDM Regulations will introduce the following changes:

• Clarify construction client responsibilities when they are exercising their influence over the health and safety standards on their projects.
• Replace the role of Planning Supervisor with a new role of CDM co-ordinator. The co-ordinator will act as the client's key adviser on health and safety issues for the project, particularly effective communication and co-ordination of health and safety information.
• Emphasise the importance of competence at all levels in securing health and safety benefits, whilst simplifying the assessment of competence.
• Drive out needless health and safety paperwork and bureaucracy. Paperwork should be project-specific, relevant, proportionate to the risk, and of real use in helping to manage the risk.
• Simplify when a project is notifiable, and formal plans and appointments are required. Projects will be notifiable if they will involve more than 30 days or 500 person days of construction work. No projects for a domestic client will be notifiable. Formal plans and appointments are only required for notifiable projects.

The CDM 2007 Regulations have been developed in line with the Government's Better Regulation principles and will consolidate and revise the main pieces of existing construction health and safety at work legislation, namely: the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 and the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996- resulting in a single, simplified set of regulations.

Notes to editors

1. The CDM Regulations have been developed with the support of industry stakeholders and the Health and Safety Commission's Construction Industry Advisory Committee (CONIAC) and its CDM working group. More information for dutyholders will be available in the ACoP 'Managing health and safety in construction'.
2. Copies of "Managing health and safety in construction", ISBN 9780717662234, price £15.00, will be available from HSE Books.

More information on HSE's Construction Division can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/construction/index.htm.

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