What is CDM 2015?
CDM 2015 is the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, which allocate health and safety duties across the parties on a construction project: the client, the principal designer, designers, the principal contractor, contractors and workers. They govern how a project is planned, managed and monitored from the pre-construction phase through to handover.
For anyone selling into construction, CDM matters mainly because of regulation 8. It sets the test that appointments have to meet, and it is worded in a way that people still get wrong years after the wording changed. This page is general buyer education, not legal advice.
- Regulation 8 sets the test: skills, knowledge and experience, and for an organisation, organisational capability.
- CDM 2015 deliberately dropped the word competence. Answer PQQs in the words the regulations actually use.
- Where more than one contractor is involved, the client must appoint a principal designer and a principal contractor in writing.
- A project is notifiable if it will last longer than 30 working days with more than 20 workers at once, or exceed 500 person days.
- Every project needs a construction phase plan. The health and safety file arises where there is more than one contractor.
Regulation 8: skills, knowledge and experience, not competence
The wording, from regulation 8(1), is that a designer (including a principal designer) or contractor (including a principal contractor) appointed to work on a project must have the skills, knowledge and experience, and, if they are an organisation, the organisational capability, necessary to fulfil the role that they are appointed to undertake, in a manner that secures the health and safety of any person affected by the project.
Two consequences follow, both visible in procurement:
- Regulation 8(2): a designer or contractor must not accept an appointment unless they meet that test. It is a duty on the supplier, not just the buyer.
- Regulation 8(3): whoever appoints them must take reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that they do. That is the legal reason a PQQ exists.
CDM 2015 dropped competence deliberately. If a PQQ still asks for it, answer in the statutory terms and say so.
Who does what
Five duty holder roles, plus workers.
- Client - makes suitable arrangements for managing the project, allocates adequate time and resources, provides pre-construction information, appoints the other duty holders.
- Principal designer - plans, manages and monitors the pre-construction phase, coordinates health and safety in design, prepares the health and safety file.
- Designer - eliminates, reduces or controls foreseeable risks through design, and provides information on the risks that remain.
- Principal contractor - plans, manages and monitors the construction phase, draws up the construction phase plan, coordinates contractors, provides inductions and welfare.
- Contractor - plans, manages and monitors their own work.
- Workers - must be consulted, must report anything likely to endanger health or safety, and must cooperate.
Regulation 5 requires the client to appoint a principal designer and principal contractor in writing where more than one contractor is, or foreseeably will be, involved. If not, the client carries those duties.
Notification, plans and the health and safety file
- Notification, regulation 6 - a project is notifiable if the construction work is scheduled to last longer than 30 working days and have more than 20 workers working simultaneously at any point, or to exceed 500 person days. The client notifies HSE before the construction phase begins. Notification is not what triggers CDM; the duties apply either way.
- Construction phase plan, regulation 12 - required on every project. The principal contractor draws it up where there is more than one contractor; otherwise the sole contractor does.
- Health and safety file, regulation 12(5) - prepared by the principal designer, so it arises where there is more than one contractor. It covers the finished structure and the risks in maintaining it.
What CDM means when you are the supplier
Supplying materials, PPE and consumables is not construction work, but the flow-down reaches you.
- Evidence rather than assurances. Regulation 8(3) obliges your customer to satisfy themselves about anyone they appoint, which is why they want registration numbers, not a statement that you are experienced.
- Answer in the statutory language. Organisational capability is the phrase a CDM-literate assessor is reading for.
- Schedule 3 lists ten categories of work involving particular risks, including burial under earthfalls or falling from a height, exposure to chemical or biological substances, work near high voltage power lines, risk of drowning, wells and tunnels, ionising radiation, diving, caisson work and explosives. Where a task falls under it, the PPE specification usually tightens.
- Deliveries run under the site's own arrangements, set through the construction phase plan. That is why a delivery is refused at the gate on paperwork more often than product.
Common questions
Does CDM 2015 apply to small jobs?
Yes. CDM 2015 applies to construction work generally, including work carried out for a domestic client by someone else. What varies with size is which parts bite: notification depends on the 30 working day and 20 worker test or the 500 person day test, and appointing a principal designer and principal contractor depends on more than one contractor being involved.
What replaced competence in CDM 2015?
Skills, knowledge and experience for individuals, plus organisational capability for organisations. Regulation 8(1) uses exactly that wording. The change was deliberate, because competence assessment under the previous regime had become a paperwork exercise. If you are writing a PQQ answer, use the statutory terms.
Who appoints the principal designer and principal contractor?
The client, in writing, as soon as is practicable and before the construction phase begins. Regulation 5 requires it wherever more than one contractor is, or foreseeably will be, involved. If the client makes no appointment, the client must carry out those duties itself. For domestic clients they normally transfer to the contractor.
Is CDM notification the same as a PQQ requirement?
No. Notification under regulation 6 is a notice the client sends the regulator about the project, based on duration and worker numbers. A PQQ is a buyer's check on a supplier. They meet only in that both exist because regulation 8(3) requires anyone making an appointment to satisfy themselves about the appointee.
Related
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