LRS Flooring Specialists

Construction (Design And management) Regulations

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 have been implemented to improve the way in which construction projects are managed. The regulation consolidates and revises the provisions that were previously in the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 1994 and the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) regulations 1996.

The principle objective of the new regulations, and the supporting Approved Codes of Practise, is to reduce the number of incidence of construction accidents and ill health.

The measures intended to help achieve this aim include:

• Minimising bureaucracy associated with construction work and placing a greater emphasis on effective planning and management
• Providing a level of flexibility that accommodates the full range of contractual arrangements found in the construction industry
• Emphasising the need for effective communication, co-ordination and cooperation between the different parties involved in the project
• Requiring duty holders to establish the competence of appointees, and also to ensure their own competence prior to accepting any appointment
• Simplifying the ways in which the competence of the relevant parties is assessed by the duty holders prior to selection
• Requiring the Principle Contractor, and other Contractors, to be informed how much time is available for planning and preparation prior to work commencing
• Making the Client’s existing duties more explicit and requiring the client to take reasonable steps to ensure that the health and safety arrangements made by the other duty holders are sufficient

Some of the more significant changes resulting from the introduction of the revised regulations and ACoP include:

• The introduction of an important new duty holder, the ‘CDM Co-ordinator’
• whom replaces the Planning Supervisor role from CDM 1994
• A new duty on Designers to ensure that structures they design as
• workplaces comply with the relevant requirements of the Workplace
• (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
• A new duty on Designers to eliminate hazards and reduce remaining risks,
• so far as is reasonable practicable
• Removal of the facility whereby the Clients can transfer their criminal
• liabilities (under CDM) to a Client’s Agent
• The enhanced duty on Clients to exercise their influence in ensuring
• effective health and safety standards during construction projects
• For notification purposes, demolition will be treated in the same way as
• other types of construction work (although a documented plan of how the
• work will be conducted must be prepared) .