The new Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM Regs) come into force in April. Events and exhibitions of scale will fall within the scope of these regulations and the HSE is drafting guidance specifically for the events industry. The draft regulations have been published, however the exact impact on our events and exhibitions industry is still taking shape.
We expect there to be better formalisation of the responsibilities of the client and their appointed organisers and/or main contractors. For well run projects this should be a fairly simple matter to comply…
From the HSE:
The new CDM Regs come into force on 6 April 2015 and apply to all building and construction projects, regardless of the size, duration and nature of the work.
The main changes, outlined in general by the Health & Safety Executive, are as follows:
- Principal designer. The replacement of CDM co-ordinator (under CDM 2007) by principal designer. This means that the responsibility for coordination of the pre-construction phase – which is crucial to the management of any successful construction project – will rest with an existing member of the design team.
- Client. The new Regulations recognise the influence and importance of the client as the head of the supply chain and as the party best placed to set standards throughout a project
- Competence. By splitting ‘competence’ into its component parts of skills, knowledge, training and experience, and – if they are an organisation – organisational capability, provides clarity for the industry to assess and demonstrate that construction project teams have the right attributes to deliver a healthy and safe project.
- The technical standards set out in Part 4 remain essentially unchanged from CDM 2007 and HSE’s targeting and enforcement policy, as a proportionate and modern regulator, also remains unchanged.
The Regulatory package
The new proposed Regulations and supporting guidance are all in draft form before they come into force and may be subject to changes. They offer duty holders the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the main requirements before they come into force.
