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The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 came into effect on 6 April 2015 making sweeping changes to previous CDM regulations. The former exclusions for small projects no longer apply, which means that care homes and professional practices, such as GP surgeries, will be subject to the regulations should they undertake any building project.
CDM 2015 places more responsibility upon the client (such as the care home operator or the GP partnership) to ensure that the construction work can be carried out safely.
The regulations state that the client must ensure:
Most projects will require a principal designer and principal contractor, who must be appointed before the construction phase begins. Should the client decide not to appoint a principal designer, this role and its responsibilities will be assigned automatically to the client.
The Health & Safety Executive has to be notified of projects where construction work is to last longer than 30 working days and where more than 20 workers will be on site at any one time, or where construction work is to exceed 500 person days. Notification has to be made by the client rather than the principal designer.
The principal designed has to:
The principal contractor has to:
Other parties engaged on the site have duties relating to health and safety too. These are considerably more detailed and anyone working on a site must be familiar with them. It should be remembered that CDM 2015 is enforced by the Health & Safety Executive by way of criminal proceedings against those in breach.
For advice on this or any aspect relating to the legal side of your construction project, contact Peter Allen.
Peter Allen
01245 453813
peter.allen@birkettlong.co.uk