HEALTH & SAFETY CDM15 ONE YEAR ON
Louise Hosking, Chartered Safety & Health Practitioner and Director at Hosking Associates Ltd discusses the changes made to CDM regulations and how they have impacted upon the industry over the last 12 months.
The Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM) meant
significant change for anyone using contractors
from 6th April 2015; not only due to a change in duty holders and their responsibilities, but because smaller scale works and domestic projects were required - for the first time - to follow the CDM process.
Anyone commissioning works, using contractors, designing, pricing, scoping or delivering projects has had to review their arrangements and act.
Personally, this meant a significant amount of work for our FM customers - who represent all five duty holders (Client, Contractor, Principal Contractor, Designer, Principal Designer) - to assess how they were going to adjust their arrangements. Overall, I have been very impressed with how they have adapted to the change, and I think they are all managing building work just that little bit smarter.
TRANSITION Initially, there was a transitional
period for works where a CDM coordinator had already been appointed, which gave these projects until 6th October 2015 to transition over to the new regulations. This actually caused some confusion because some organisations incorrectly believed they did not have to comply until 6th October 2015.
SCOPE Working mainly in the facilities
and commercial management sectors, by far the largest number of queries I have dealt with has been regarding the scope of the regulations due to the definition
48 | TOMORROW’S FM
within them on what is considered to be construction. In particular, the inclusion of "maintenance and repair" within the definition.
The definition of construction work has not changed. Planned, routine maintenance or work where individual components are removed and replaced, or lubrication and inspection undertaken, is not CDM work. The definition refers to work on the “structure” and CDM 15 is all about construction “projects” which have a start and finish, and involve the use of construction tools and construction equipment.
The HSE issued some excellent guidance in the form of a Q&A to assist, but I agree the guidance is not definitive and no one wants to be the legal test case.
The guidance I offer is to risk assess each project against the definition and consider the following:
1. Does the work involve construction techniques, tools and knowledge?
2. Does the work involve breaking into the structure?
3. Does the work fall within the scope of a project with a start and finish?
If the answer to all of the above questions is yes, the work is likely to be CDM work. For buildings containing asbestos, fragile surfaces and unknown risks, a risk assessment would likely conclude the CDM15 process should be followed.
I was asked recently if jet washing a waste storage area would fall within the scope of CDM15 as the definition clearly mentions cleaning via this method. My opinion is this is routine cleaning work with known managed risks and would be considered PPM works. Jet washing the external fascia of a building would be a different scenario.
COMPETENCY Competency has always been a CDM
cornerstone. The new regulations replaced this with a requirement to consider skills, knowledge, experience (SKE), and organisational capability when engaging the services of others.
At the heart of the regulations is ensuring those who create the risk are responsible for managing it. Some designers and principal designers have become used to referring to a CDM coordinator to “think safety” on behalf of the project. Now, there is an expectation they will make the right choices and decisions themselves as they design.
COORDINATOR VS
CONSULTANT The regulations have removed the role of CDM coordinator, but I am shocked by how many client organisations are still trying to shoe horn this role into their projects.
The new requirements are very clear: the CDM-C no longer exists. Individual duty holders must step up and develop the necessary SKE to fulfil their defined responsibilities.
CDM-Coordinators have a wealth of knowledge, but must now adapt their approach to train, guide and support duty holders, not do the work for them. Duty holders cannot sub- contract their responsibilities.
PRINCIPAL CONTRACTOR (PC) & PRINCIPAL
DESIGNER (PD) The PC role has changed less than the others, but PD is new. There has been a reluctance by some project managers and architects to take on the PD role, and some added costs have definitely been disproportionate to what is actually expected.
twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
