Health, Safety & Quality Consultancy
In our newsletter released in May 2014 you may recall an article reporting the start of the HSE consultation process for the replacement of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. The HSE have now abandoned plans to abolish the approved code of practice (ACoP) and have agreed to keep a simplified ACoP after consultees on the new CDM argued for retaining an approved code.
The board also agreed to extend the transitional arrangements for the introduction to the new regulations, expected to come into force in April 2015, to allow a period of grace so designers, clients and contractors would not have to change arrangements mid-project.
The HSE will also redraft proposed changes to the requirements on duty holders to check the competence of those they contract as consultees felt the changes were unclear.
Most changes to the regulations proposed in the consultation draft will go ahead, which includes replacing the CDM Coordinator, with a new principal designer role, and extension of CDM duties to clients on domestic projects.
Under CDM 2007, duty holders must notify the HSE of any consultation project that is expected to last for more than 30 days, but under the updated regulations, this requirement will only apply if there are also going to be more than 20 workers on site at the same time.