Managing Health and Safety in Construction

Construction [Design and Management] Regulations 2007 [CDM]

Designers - General Background

Designers' responsibilities extend beyond the construction phase of a project. They also need to consider the health and safety of those who will maintain, repair, clean, refurbish and eventually remove or demolish all or part of a structure as well as the health and safety of users of workplaces. For most designers, buildability considerations and ensuring that the structure can be easily maintained and repaired will be part of their normal work, and thinking about the health and safety of those who do this work should not be an onerous duty.

Failure to address these issues adequately at the design stage will usually increase running costs, because clients will then be faced with more costly solutions when repairs and maintenance become necessary.

Where significant risks remain when they have done what they can, designers should provide information with the design to ensure that the CDM co-ordinator, other designers and contractors are aware of these risks and can take account of them.

Designers also have duties under other legislation, including those parts of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 which require risk assessment. Compliance with regulation 11 of CDM2007 will usually be sufficient for designers to achieve compliance with regulations 3[1], [2] and [6] of the Management Regulations as they relate to the design of the structure.

Local authority or government officials may provide advice relating to designs and relevant statutory requirements, for example the Building Regulations 2000, but this does not make them designers. This is because these are legal requirements where the designer has no choice in respect of compliance. Any such requirements should be treated as 'design constraints' in the usual way. However, if the statutory bodies require that particular features which are not statutory requirements are included or excluded [for example stipulating the use of hazardous substances for cleaning or the absence of edge protection on flat roofs], then they are designers and must ensure that they comply with these CDM Regulations.

What designers should do for all projects

Designers should:

1. make sure that they are competent and adequately resourced to address the health and safety issues likely to be involved in the design;
2. check that clients are aware of their duties;
3. when carrying out design work, avoid foreseeable risks to those involved in the construction and future use of the structure, and in doing so, they should eliminate hazards [so far as is reasonably practicable, taking account of other design considerations] and reduce risk associated with those hazards which remain;
4. provide adequate information about any significant risks associated with the design;
5. co-ordinate their work with that of others in order to improve the way in which risks are managed and controlled.

In carrying out these duties, designers need to consider the hazards and risks to those who:

1. carry out construction work including demolition;
2. clean any window or transparent or translucent wall, ceiling or roof in or on a structure or maintain the permanent fixtures and fittings;
3. use a structure designed as a place of work;
4. may be affected by such work, for example customers or the general public.

Making Clients aware of their responsibilities
Designers are often the first point of contact for a client, and CDM2007 requires them to check that clients are aware of their duties under the Regulations.

Providing information
Designers must provide information that other project team members are likely to need to identify and manage the remaining risks. This should be project specific, and concentrate on significant risks which may not be obvious to those who use the design. For example, providing generic risk information about the prevention of falls is pointless, because competent contractors will already know what needs to be done, but if the design gives rise to a specific and unusual fall risk which may not be obvious to contractors, designers should provide information about this risk.

Co-operation
Designers must co-operate with the client, and other designers and contractors, including those designing temporary works. This is to ensure that incompatibilities between designs are identified and resolved as early as possible, and that the right information is provided in the pre-construction information.

For smaller projects where most of the work is done by a single designer, this can be achieved through discussion with those who use or are affected by the design. For larger projects or those involving significant risks, a more managed approach will be necessary.

Additional duties where the project is notifiable
In addition to the duties outlined above, when the project is notifiable, designers should :

1. ensure that the client has appointed a CDM co-ordinator;
2. ensure that they do not start design work other than initial design work unless a CDM co-ordinator has been appointed;
3. co-operate with the CDM co-ordinator, principal contractor and with any other designers or contractors as necessary for each of them to comply with their duties. This includes providing information needed for the pre-construction information or health and safety file.

For a notifiable project, designers need to ensure that a CDM co-ordinator has been appointed. If appointment has been done, then designers can assume that the client is aware of their duties.

Early appointment of the CDM co-ordinator is crucial for effective planning and establishing management arrangements from the start. The Regulations require the appointment to take place as soon as is practicable after initial design work or other preparation for construction work has begun.

Once the CDM co-ordinator has been appointed, the designer will need to co-operate with them and provide the information, which the CDM co-ordinator needs to comply with their duties.