Only domestic projects scheduled to last more than 30 days and involving 20 or more people on site at one time will be required to be notified to the HSE [edited April 1], according to the HSE’s consultation proposals, published yesterday (31 March).
This article has been corrected since publication. For more details on the CDM consultation, please see our further coverage this Friday 4 April
The unexpected extra restriction on labour prompted James Ritchie, head of corporate affairs at the Association of Project Safety, to say that the full regs would only apply to "footballers’ mansions and millionaires digging out basements in London."
The UK’s interpretation of the CDM regulations previously exempted domestic clients, but the HSE’s new proposal brings the UK into line with the underlying EU directive.
[Added April 1] – The consultation document indicates that the updated version of the CDM Regs will now apply to all projects with more than one contractor, whether domestic and non-domestic.
But limiting the obligation to notify [edited 1 April] to complex domestic projects with 20 people on site simultaneously should avoid the prospect of Middle England having to notify the HSE of their loft and kitchen extensions.
Ritchie told CM: “Some domestic projects can be worth several million pounds, and had previously been completely exempted. But we’ve already seen that excavating millionaires’ basements in London can involve significant safety problems.”
The consultation on updating the CMD Regulations 2007, which also includes the well-trailed proposals to abolish the CDM Coordinator role and remove the accompanying Approved Code of Practice, will run for 10 weeks.
Millionaires’ homes such as footballer Lionel Messi’s near Barcelona will be subject to the new CDM regime
In the consultation document, the HSE proposes that the functions of the CDM Coordinator be transferred to the Principal Designer within the project team. The consultation says that under the current system "appointments are often made too late, too little resource is made available, and those involved in fulfilling the role are often not well embedded in the pre-construction project team."
It also says that the duty to assess individual and corporate "competence" will be replaced by a duty to inform, instruct, train and supervise. The consultation says: "There is strong evidence to suggest that there is a need to bear down on the excessively bureaucratic response in many parts of the industry to comply with CDM 2007. Such approaches waste valuable resources which could be better targetted at achieving improved outcomes."
The Approved Code of Practice will also be replaced with "tailored" guidance for each duty holder written by industry-led working groups. The document says that large parts of the ACoP were originally written as guidance, it is difficult to apply and often over-interpreted.
But one unexpected detail is that the new “20 people on site” rule will also form part of the new threshold for notifying the HSE of projects [edited April 1 – the threshold applies to notification only]. In comparison to the existing regulations, where the 30-day duration rule applied, the new proposal will remove many smaller non-domestic projects from the obligation to notify.
Responding to the consultation in general, the APS’s Ritchie said: “A lot will hang on the industry guidance that goes with the new regulations, and how it’s interpreted. People often don’t read the regulations themselves, they read the guidance, so it’s vital it’s explicitly clear.
"A lot will hang on the industry guidance that goes with the new regulations, and how it’s interpreted. People often don’t read the regulations themselves, they read the guidance, so it’s vital it’s explicitly clear."
James Ritchie, Association for Project Safety
“And what we don’t yet know is whether the role of Principal Designer has to be undertaken by one of the designers on the project, or whether they can use someone else [such as a CDM Coordinator] to discharge that function. From what I’ve read, I can’t see what’s going to stop a designer taking someone else on to do that.
“But looking positively at all of this, if it means that CDM coordination happens at an earlier stage, then that’s a positive for the industry.”
The HSE calculates that simplifying the CDM 2007 regulations will save the construction industry £30m a year due to the removal of the CDM Co-ordinator role, and a further £3m a year due to the reduction in the number of projects meeting the new notification threshold.
Vaughan Burnand, chair of the CIOB’s health and safety advisory committee, said that the inclusion of larger domestic projects in the CDM regime would be a significant change for the industry, but also a potential business opportunity for some.
He said that a full official CIOB response to the consultation would be compiled shortly.
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While not an architect, I draw plans for small domestic extensions, but only for Planning and Building Regulations purposes. I do not undertake any supervisory role – would CDM still apply?
Seems to me there could be confusion in this area.
Just how does reducing the notification requirements and excluding many smaller projects help Health and Safety as the HSE will not be able to monitor sites if they do not know they are live, and as such will be less of a deterrent to malpractice. it takes about 3 minutes to send f10 notice, how does this save £3m per year? The issue of CDMc being ineffective is understandable as they have always had zero authority except with the voice of the Client, (why not have qualified ‘approved inspector’ style CDMc in the manner of Building Control ? ) Mostly as a CDMc we have to robustly challenge poor design due to the lack of a general legal regulation overview rather than buildability and this sort of challenge will no longer be available on most projects. The real problem with CDM has always been the general poor standard of CDMc practitioners who are just not proactive enough
We undertake works which involve the construction of extensions (bedrooms/shower rooms) or conversions of garages for special facilites for disabled persons, these projects generally take approx 6-10 weeks and would be more than 30 days onsite, these porjects would be notifitable under the proposed CDM regulations changes. My thought is also that this would apply to many smaller dosmestic extensions and not just ‘Footballers Mansion’ projects and therefore these proposed changes would affect many more projects and I would of thought cause an immense increase in workload for the HSE?
To incorporate the title “designer” into a new quasi duty holder role will only cause confusion, or allow clients to place pressures onto either the new PD role for no additional fees, or the new P Contractor rather than to have an adequate independent professional advising in that role I fear.. we are going back to 1994, but with iPads rather than safety hover boards!! On other comments, it’s the same in every profession you get good designers and good CDMC’s, there is also a bulk of very poor such title holders.. you usually from experience, get what you pay for.. hence the current problem!
Despite the correction, this article is still implying that the application of the CDM Regulations to domestic projects will be something new. NO! The existing regulations already apply to all construction work, including domestic projects. As such designers and contractors have the same duties on domestic as commercial projects.
It is only domestic CLIENTS that are not currently recognised by CDM 2007. The proposed changes to the regulations will now identify the domestic client as a duty holder, but provide for their ‘client duties’ to be discharged by the contractor or principal designer (new role) along with their own respective duties.