CDM 2015 in one paragraph
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 set out who is responsible for health and safety on a construction project, from the client who pays for it to the people on the tools. They apply to construction work in Great Britain whatever its size, and to domestic clients as well as businesses. Northern Ireland has its own, very similar regulations, CDM (Northern Ireland) 2016. The core idea is simple: plan the work, manage it and monitor it, and make sure everyone involved talks to each other.
Who does what
| Duty holder | In short |
|---|---|
| Client | Sets the project up, appoints the right people, allows enough time and money, and passes on information. For a homeowner, these duties normally pass to the contractor or principal contractor. |
| Principal designer | Plans, manages and coordinates health and safety before construction starts. Needed where there is more than one contractor. |
| Designer | Designs out foreseeable risks to the people who build, maintain and use the building. |
| Principal contractor | Plans, manages and coordinates the construction phase: the construction phase plan, site inductions, welfare, keeping the site secure and coordinating contractors. Needed where there is more than one contractor. |
| Contractor (you) | Plans, manages and monitors your own work so it is done safely, and works with the principal contractor. |
| Workers | Look after their own and others’ safety, report what they see, cooperate, and are consulted on health, safety and welfare. |
Your duties as a contractor
Regulation 15 sets out what contractors must do. In practice it comes down to these:
- Make sure the client knows their duties before you start work (regulation 15(1)). This matters most with homeowners and small business clients who may never have heard of CDM.
- Plan, manage and monitor your work and the work of anyone under your control, so it is carried out without risks to health and safety (regulation 15(2)). This includes risks to the public and anyone else affected.
- Use people with the right skills, knowledge, training and experience, or who are in the process of getting them, and give them the supervision, information and instructions they need.
- Follow the principal contractor’s directions (regulation 15(3)) and the parts of the construction phase plan that apply to your work.
- Coordinate with other trades on the project so your work does not put theirs at risk, or theirs yours.
- Give your workers a site induction if the principal contractor has not already done so (regulation 15(9)).
- Do not start until unauthorised people are kept out of the site (regulation 15(10)).
- Make sure welfare facilities meet Schedule 2 as far as they affect you (regulation 15(11)): toilets, washing, drinking water and somewhere to rest and change, in place from the start.
If you are the only contractor
Plenty of trade jobs have just one contractor: a re-roof, a rewire, a bathroom refit. There is then no principal contractor, and some of the principal contractor’s jobs fall to you. Most importantly, you must draw up a construction phase plan before you set up the site (regulation 15(5)).
It does not need to be long. CITB’s guidance for contractors suggests a plan that is in proportion to the work and its risks, covering:
- a short description of the project, its key dates and the people involved;
- how the work will be managed: site rules, induction, welfare, how workers are consulted and what happens in an emergency;
- how the main risks on this site will be controlled.
CITB also advises against stuffing the plan with generic risk assessments and detailed method statements. HSE publishes a template for small projects, and CITB’s free CDM Wizard app can help you write one.
If your client is a homeowner and you are the only contractor, the client’s duties normally pass to you as well (regulation 7). In practice that means you take on what a client would otherwise arrange, such as making sure welfare is in place.
When there is a principal contractor
On larger sites you work under a principal contractor. Expect them to ask for:
- your RAMS for the work, before you start, and a new revision if your method changes;
- evidence of training and the cards or tickets their site requires;
- everyone to attend their site induction and follow their site rules;
- attendance at coordination meetings, and toolbox talks if they run them;
- prompt reports of accidents, near misses and anything unsafe you see.
Keep them informed if your plans change. A different piece of plant, a new sequence or extra people on site can affect other trades, and the principal contractor can only coordinate what they know about.
Where your RAMS fit
CDM 2015 does not use the word RAMS. The duty to assess risks comes from the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and CDM requires you to plan, manage and monitor your work and share information with the principal contractor. A RAMS is how most of the industry does both: the risk assessment shows what could go wrong and how you will control it, and the method statement shows how the job will be done, step by step.
Think of the construction phase plan as the rules for the whole site, and your RAMS as how your firm will do its part within those rules. If your RAMS conflicts with the plan, the plan wins, and your RAMS will probably be sent back. Our guide to why RAMS get rejected covers the most common clashes.
Does the project need notifying to HSE?
A project is notifiable if the construction work is scheduled to last more than 30 working days with more than 20 workers on site at the same time at any point, or to exceed 500 person days (regulation 6). Notification is the client’s duty, using form F10, and should be made as soon as possible before construction starts. Where the client is a homeowner, the duty passes to the contractor or principal contractor. Most small trade jobs will not reach these thresholds, but CDM applies in full either way.
Not the same as the Building Regulations roles
Since October 2023, the Building Regulations in England have also used the titles principal designer and principal contractor, for making sure the work complies with the Building Regulations. These are separate from the CDM roles, even though the names are the same and one firm often holds both. If a client asks you to take one on, check which one they mean.
A quick check before you start on site
- Does the client know their CDM duties?
- Is there a principal contractor? If not, have you written a construction phase plan?
- Do you have a site-specific RAMS, checked by a competent person, that fits the site rules?
- Have your team got the training and cards the work and the site need?
- Has everyone had a site induction?
- Are welfare facilities in place from day one?
- Is the work area secured against unauthorised access?
How AutoRAMS helps
AutoRAMS writes site-specific RAMS for your trade from the jobs you choose for each visit, with the site, your team and emergency arrangements included. Every amendment becomes the next revision, so you can show the principal contractor exactly what changed, and your team can sign the briefing on their phones. It does not write your construction phase plan or make your competent person’s decisions for you, but it takes most of the evening out of the paperwork.