Construction Health and Safety & CDM 2015

MPW R&R provides advice, consultancy, training, and develop guidance to help construction organisations understand what is required of them so that they can comply cost effectively with CDM 2015 and manage construction health and safety risks. We also help solicitors and their clients with independent and objective opinion by acting as an expert witness.

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM) are the primary regulations for managing the health, safety and welfare of all construction projects in Great Britain. CDM 2015 came into force on 6 April 2015, and replaced CDM 2007.  However, CDM 2015 introduced significant changes that require attention from duty holders.

That raises the question: ‘How do organisations know what they should be doing to comply with CDM 2015 in their situation?’

That is where we can help …


What we do

We help the construction industry by:

  • Advising on the use of CDM 2015 – to ensure that duty holders understand what is required of them and how to comply cost effectively
  • Providing presentations and training on CDM 2015 – to help duty holders improve their awareness of and confidence in CDM 2015
  • Reviewing how CDM 2015 has been applied by duty holders – to identify potential gaps and identify solutions for cost-effective compliance
  • Forensic investigations – to investigate an incident and establish what happened, why it happened and what can be learned
  • Evaluating regulatory initiatives – to help regulators understand what has worked, why it has worked (or not), what impact it has had and identify areas for improvement
  • Acting as an expert witness – to provide solicitors and their clients with independent and objective opinion in criminal and civil cases resulting from an incident

Examples of what we have done

Dr Mike Webster has:

  • Been appointed by HSE to lead a research project on the Principal Designer role – to broaden understanding of how the CDM 2015 Principal Designer role is working in practice
  • Developed and published guidance on CDM 2015 – including clause-by-clause comparisons of the roles in CDM 2007 and CDM 2015, summaries of the changes and frequently asked questions
  • Provided advice on the application of CDM 2015 – to a range of duty holders
  • Led the independent evaluation of CDM 2007 for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) – where the construction industry’s implementation of CDM 2007 was assessed to see what changes had been made from the implementation of CDM 1994 and whether the objectives of CDM 2007 had been met
  • Reviewed the implementation of CDM 2007 in the construction of London 2012 – to identify how CDM 2007 was used and what lessons could be applied in the wider construction industry
  • Led the review of the CDM 2015 Principal Designer role – to establish how the role was being undertaken in practice and identify what was working well and what was not working so well
  • Acted as an expert witness on criminal prosecutions of fatal and major injury accidents resulting from construction activity – these cases have involved charges against Clients, Designers, Planning Supervisors, Principal Contractors and Contractors in England and Scotland under CDM 1994, CDM 2007, CDM 2015, Work at Height Regulations and the Health, Safety at Work etc. Act and Gross Negligence Manslaughter

Publications

Dr Mike Webster has published a range of reports and papers on construction safety and CDM. These are listed on our publications page along with links to download them.


Our CDM 2015 Resources

Summary of the Changes

A brief summary of eight key changes to the CDM 2015 Regulations from CDM 2007 and what those changes mean in practice is provided in this post.

Frequently Asked Questions

Since CDM 2015 came into force, a range of organisations (including HSE, solicitors and professional institutions) has published discussions on key issues and answers to frequently asked questions. For ease of reference, we have collated these sources and provided links to them in this post.

Principal Designer Duties

Since CDM 2015 came into force, the Principal Designer duties have generated a lot of discussion and questions as organisations try to work out how to fulfill the role.

A range of organisations (including HSE and solicitors) has published discussions on key issues relating to the Principal Designer duties. For ease of reference, we have collated these sources and provided links to them in this post.

Designer duties

I gave a 25-minute presentation at the Institution of Structural Engineers Small Practitioners Conference on 26 June 2018 on understanding the CDM 2015 Designer Duties as they relate to civil and structural engineers.  The video of my presentation and the accompanying slides are available in this post.

An overview of the issues involved in CDM 2015 Designer Duties – Designing for maintenance are discussed in this post and the guidance available to civil and structural engineers on contemporary industry practice is highlighted.

This article discusses the impact of deterioration on the safety of concrete structures. This is illustrated by examples where deterioration has led concrete structures to collapse. The article suggests steps that designers can take to minimise the risks of deterioration to safety and discharge their CDM 2015 Designer Duties.

Detailed clause-by-clause comparisons of CDM 2015 and CDM 2007

Detailed clause-by-clause comparisons of the changes between the CDM 2015 Regulations and CDM 2007 are available for:


Dr Mike Webster is a chartered civil and structural engineer (FICE, FIStructE) with over 30 years’ experience.  He specialises in construction and structural safety, CDM and risk, and founded MPW R&R to provide Consulting, Forensic and Expert Witness services in those areas.

Mike has worked on the design, appraisal and site supervision of building and bridge structures.  He has developed guidance for assessing the safety of existing structures.  Mike led an independent review of CDM 1994, the independent evaluation of CDM 2007 and the research into the CDM 2015 Principal Designer role.  He also led the review of the use of CDM 2007 in the construction of London 2012.

Mike has been instructed as an expert witness by both defence and prosecution teams in cases involving allegations of corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act, the CDM Regulations, the Work at Height Regulations and the appeal of enforcement notices.

Mike is the author of around 20 published reports and papers on construction health and safety and the CDM Regulations.  He is also the author of a range of articles on CDM 2015.   He is a member of Confidential Reporting on Structural-Safety (CROSS), the Institution of Structural Engineers Health and Safety Panel and the Temporary Works forum.

For more information email Mike at mike.webster@mpwrandr.co.uk or give him a call on 07969 957471.