The CDM Regulations are the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, the main health and safety law for construction projects in Great Britain. They set out duties for clients, designers, principal designers, principal contractors, contractors and workers, so that risks are managed from design through to the end of the build. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) enforces them.
Who has which duty
- Client: appoints the principal designer and Principal Contractor where there is more than one contractor, makes sure enough time and resources are allowed, and provides pre-construction information.
- Principal designer: plans, manages and coordinates health and safety in the pre-construction phase.
- Principal contractor: plans, manages and coordinates the construction phase, including the construction phase plan and site welfare.
- Contractors: plan and manage their own work and cooperate with the principal contractor.
The HSE guidance on CDM 2015 is the place to confirm the detail for your project.
Since October 2023 the Building Regulations in England have had their own principal designer and principal contractor roles, with duties for compliance with the building regulations. They share their names with the CDM roles but are separate appointments, although the same firm often holds both.
Worked example
A Main Contractor tendering a £2.4m refurbishment prices its CDM duties in the preliminaries rather than leaving them to chance.
| CDM item | Allowance |
|---|---|
| Construction phase plan and site set-up | £1,800 |
| Welfare facilities for 26 weeks | £7,800 |
| Site induction and briefings | £1,200 |
| Safety officer time, 1 day a week | £10,400 |
| Total in preliminaries | £21,200 |
That is about 0.9% of the contract sum, an example figure only.
CDM in the money
CDM costs sit mostly in preliminaries, so a longer programme raises them week by week. When a project overruns, welfare, supervision and site management keep running, and this shows in the cost report as a prelims overspend.
Subcontractors also price for it: a specialist needs to cover its own risk assessments, method statements and induction time, and should expect those to be requested before starting. If a Variation changes the method of working, check whether the construction phase plan needs updating and whether extra safety cost belongs in the Valuation.
Related terms
Principal Contractor, Preliminary Costs, Client, Main Contractor.
Planyard's construction budgets let you hold site safety and welfare as their own prelims lines and compare them with actual spend as the programme runs.
