Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015)

Commercial clients have a crucial influence over how projects are run, including the management of health and safety risks. Whatever the project size, the commercial client has contractual control, appoints designers and contractors, and determines the money, time and other resources for the project.

For all projects, commercial clients must;

· Make suitable arrangements for managing their project, enabling those carrying it out to manage health and safety risks in a proportionate way. 

These arrangements include;

1.  Appointing the contractors and designers to the project (including the principle designer & principle contractor on projects involving more than one contractor) while making sure they have the skills, knowledge, experience and organisational capability

2.  Allowing sufficient time and resources for each stage of the project making sure that any principal designer and principal contractor appointed carry out their duties in managing the project making sure suitable welfare facilities are provided for the duration of the construction work

3. Maintain and review the management arrangements for the duration of the project

4. Provide pre-construction information to every designer and contractor either bidding for the work or already appointed to the project

5. Ensure that the principal contractor or contractor (for single contractor projects) prepares a construction phase plan before that phase begins

6. Ensure that the principal designer prepares a health and safety file for the project and that it is revised as necessary and made available to anyone who needs it for subsequent work at the site

• Ensure a copy of the notification is displayed in the construction site office
• Notify HSE in writing with details of the project

Our app will help you plan and organise your project and will also help you work together with others, ensuring any work is carried out without risk to health and safety.

In helping you do this, our app assists you in complying with the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015), which apply across Great Britain.

How does the App work?

You'll be asked questions about what you will be doing and the nature of the work. Most of the questions are answered with simple tick-boxes, allowing you to complete the whole process in less than 5 minutes.

An action plan is then generated that can be viewed instantly on your device or can be emailed to whoever needs it.

The plan includes:

• Details of your job and activities
• Potential health and safety risks
• Measures to stay healthy and safe

Note: You will still need to assess the risks associated with the work to be completed, and ensure that your assessment is recorded if you have five or more employees. For further information on risk assessment visit the HSE website: http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/controlling-risks.htm

A simple plan before work starts, is usually enough to show that you have thought about health and safety.

If your job will last more than 30 days and have more than 20 workers working at the same time at any point on the project OR exceed 500 person days of construction work HSE will need to be notified and is unlikely to be suitable for this simple plan format.

Why is CDM needed?

Under CDM 2015, every construction project needs a Construction Phase Plan.

Somebody needs to be named in the plan as the person or organisation in overall control of the job, regardless of the number of trades/contractors/sub-contractors working on the job.

That somebody has a duty under CDM 2015 as the Principal Contractor to plan and organise the work, and work together with others in the project to ensure health and safety standards are maintained.